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Battle of the Bands

(OOC: This is a private RP between Dark Soul/Tim Nordwind and I c: You're all welcome to read, though ♥)

"Ugh, you guys should be practising."

Darren sighed and turned on his heel, facing away from the pair who were currently indulging themselves on videogames. He could hear the click clacks of the buttons and the scratching sounds of the joysticks - as long as their cries of sorrow and joy when either one won or lost the game they were playing. Sometimes, they're just idiots, he thought to himself.

Darren was a deadly serious teenager, sixteen years of age. He was in a band with his childhood friend and ex-schoolmate; Charlotte MacDonald and Donny Gonzales. They were, of course, the two playing video games and being disaproved of by Darren. Charlie; or Lee, as they called her, was the singer and guitarist, and also the founding member of the band. Donny was drums, and the newest member. Darren had been in the band - Cheese Bubbles - since he and Lee were little, and played bass and backup vocals.

"Hyaaaagh, stop using that move!" Lee giggled and squealed, sticking out her tongue in an 'I'm-trying-to-focus' way, tilting the PS3 controller. She held down the square and triangle buttons and cackled madly as Donny cursed underneath his breath. "I love Talim's throw moves~" she giggled.

Darren shuffled his fingers through the rows of tabliture books on the bookshelf, looking for the right one. He was constantly being put off by the noises and screams from his bandmates playing their game. After five more minutes, he finally cracked.

He slipped the plectrum that Lee had left on the bookshelf into his hand and turned slowly to face the pair playing their game, reeling his hand back and gripping the plectrum between his thumb and index finger. With infinite grace, it seemed, he swung his arm forward and tossed the plectrum straight at Lee's head, hitting her with the corner right in the center of her cranium. Lee yowled in pain and coiled her back backwards letting go of the PS3 controller.

"Kyaaaaaaaaa!" she screamed, turning to stare at Darren. "What was that for!?"

"For not practising." Darren said calmly, sighing and slapping his hands together. "Now hurry up and get out your instruments, you two."

"B-but but but ..." Lee muttered before standing up and dragging herself over to the guitar rack. She picked up her 1985 Fender Katana and Mario Mushroom plectrum, retreating over to their practising area - a large corner of Darren's room with three amps, a microphone, and a set of drums set up - and murmuring under her breath, "Donny didn't get anything thrown at him ..."

Donny, after tossing down the PS3 remote and stretching his arms, also walked over to the practising area with a stool in his hands, and placed it down and sat upon it, collecting his drumsticks from the Toms on his Yamaha Oak Custom.

"Thank you," Darren heaved a heavy breath outwards. He too walked over to the guitar rack to pick up his Yamaha BB424 Bass, swinging the strap over his shoulders and twirling round one of the tuning pegs. He stepped to the front-right of Donny and plugged in his bass to the amp sat beside him, gesturing to Lee to do the same. She then kneeled down and plugged in her Katana, kicking her legs as she stood up. Donny tapped the cymbal on his drumset to check it wasn't loose. With a grin, Lee switched on the microphone on its stand in front of her, and spoke into it; "Ready, guys?"

She turned to Darren, who nodded promptly, and then to Donny - who, in a less casual manner, raised his drumsticks in the air in a cross and shouted, "One, two, three, four!"

~*~​

Cheese Bubbles strolled along the streets of New York casually, instruments with them, occasionally looking at the walls for any offers of gigs. Lee, at the front, continuously looked up and smiled at people, brushing her light brown side fringe out of her eyes, while Darren and Donny stayed at the back, watching out for adverts and offers.

Lee frowned as many people just looked at her strangely when she smiled at them. She pulled down the hood of her Mario-Bros'-picture-covered-hoodie and ruffled her hair a bit. The sky was black and the street lights were merely flickering on and off, the pavement was covered in puddles and the air smelled dank and dusty. Lee couldn't quite say that tonight was the nicest of nights in the streets of New York, but it wasn't one of the worst-

"Hey, watch where you're going!" Lee shouted as she was sprayed with dirty water from the tires of a passing car. Donny chuckled quietly and Darren just sighed at the response of Lee - but she wasn't bothered. She had just spotted a shiny poster on the building across the road from them, and decided to run in front of a few cars to get to it. Darren and Donny were left standing on the opposite pavement, staring at the running figure. "Should we ... follow her?" Donny muttered, placing his hand on Darren's shoulder after moving his grey-brown hair away from there.

Lee glared up at the poster on the wall. 'Battle of the Bands' were the words splayed across the paper that stood out to her and captivated her eyes. She placed her hands at either side of the wall and pressed her chin against the poster. She didn't even flinch at the sound of Donny and Darren's footsteps coming towards her and finally placing themselves at either side of her.

"... Lee?" Donny muttered after a few long seconds of watching her stare up at the mainly black and red poster. Her eyes were in the dim streetlights and the rest of her body just quavered in the wind, her long brown hair fluttering by her back.

"We should do this." She whispered, still gazing longingly at the poster. "Look, it says Rodriquez Ramirez, y'know - the guy who owns Ramirez Records? He's like, super famous."

Lee shot a quick, peircing glare Darren's way; the first time she looked away from the poster for even a second. Lee knew that Darren had a big crush on Technically Numb's lead singer, Sonny. He constantly spoke about her and when they were discussing music, Darren would always slide in a comment about Sonny's use of this or Sonny's use of that. There was no denying that he was definetly an admirer of Sonny Peserville, and he wasn't exactly shy about it. When anyone asked him if he had a crush on her or said that he did, he would just blush and not say anything; no denying or talking back. Only, this was an exception.

"Go tell Damian Kulash," Darren muttered, knowing what the glance was about. He smirked slightly when Lee breathed in heavily and almost spoke, only to hold her breath so as to not cry out or say something offensive. Much like Darren, Lee had a celebrity crush, this time on OK Go's lead singer and guitarist, Damian Kulash. He was basically her idol, and she brought him and OK Go up a lot, but she didn't try to silently squeeze him (or them) into a discussion like Darren would with Sonny Peserville and Technically Numb.

"Fine, I'll go tell him what an irratating bassist I have," Lee said scornfully, again glaring at Darren through the constant blushing.

"Oh, so now I'm your bassist?" Darren laughed, flipping his side fringe only to reveal the gleam of one of his eyes for one split second. "Since when was this your band? Surely me and Donny have part ownership, too?"

"It's been my band since I founded it," Lee replied, turning away from the wall to face Darren who also slouched around to fully face his friend - well, foe. He just kept a cool face whilst staring Lee in the eye from behind his dark fringe. His deadpan glare partnered with the fact that he didn't move a muscle - or even twitch - could be quite unsettling when trying to stare him out after an argument. Lee tried to glare past the fringe at stare him out, but only managed to shift around on her feet a bit and become unnerved.

Donny chuckled a bit under his breath, just after everything had become quiet.

"... Donny?" Lee spat out, turning to face him. He was around 13 inches taller than her, so she needed to glare upwards to stare him in the eye. He continued giggling at the girl two-and-a-half years younger than him trying to threaten him, but stopped giggling when he remembered that she was the girl two-and-a-half years younger than him, Charlotte MacDonald. She was mainly a happy, bubbly character, but when she was mad, she was mad. Donny just smiled plainly at her.

"Don't think we've forgotten about Florence Welsh," Darren spoke slowly, stepping over to stand beside Lee. He was about 6 inches taller than her, and around 7 inches shorter than Donny, being the medium-sized member of the band.

"I ..." Donny muttered, squirming a round a bit and shifting feet. He opened his mouth and closed it again repeatedly, almost saying something and then stopping himself. "... must look like a blubbering idiot," he murmured, turning red and looking away.

"See? We're not the only ones," Darren retorted, doing a single hair-flick in a spiteful way.

Lee turned to face Darren, putting her hands on her hips without thinking. She soon withdrew them from there, remembering that she looked extremely stupid like that. "We're not the only ones?" she laughed. "I have a small crush, I mean, Damian's thirty-five. You full-on love Sonny Peserville. She's only twenty."

Darren chuckled in a sarcastic way before shouting at Lee. Donny backed her up and was soon insulted by Darren, who was then shouted at by Lee. This time Donny shouted at Lee, too, and eventually they engaged in a full-on bawl.

The shouting and cursing was only interrupted when they heard high-heels click-clacking on the pavement to the right of them. A tall, young woman with her wavy blond hair tied back came strutting out of the building on which the poster was stuck, wearing a red skirt-suit and red high-heels. As she came closer, red-rimmed spectacles could be seen placed upon her nose and a name tag on the right side of her chest, saying "Heidi". She stopped around two feet from the three arguing teenagers and shouted, "Excuse me!" at what seemed to be the top of her voice.

The three teens quickly stopped shouting and turned to face the woman. She stood firmly in place, putting on her bravest face as she stood in front of them.

"Please, keep it quiet," she spoke clearly, her voice sounding agitated. "Mister Ramirez is trying to audition bands for his new talent programme. He needs the quietest of conditions to work."

"Yes, Rodriquez Ramirez," the lady sighed, frowning in irratation at Lee. "This is his last auditioning week before he chooses the contestants. He's auditioning Technically Numb just no-"

"Technically Numb!" Darren blurted out, squeezing out the smallest of smiles. His eyes glittered from beneath his fringe.

The woman frowned again and shifted feet, putting one hand on her hip. "Yes, Technically Numb." she sighed, raising her eyebrows as if to say 'any more questions?'

Darren turned to face Donny and Lee. "We have got to go in for this," he said, smiling slightly maniacally. He looked at Lee, urging her to say something, tugging on her sleeve like an infant.

"... Now you want to?" Lee said quite loudly before squealing even louder due to Darren stomping on her toe. "Ow, sorry, let me start again - now you want to?" she whispered. "But it's the last week, what if there's no space left? Maybe he hasn't got any time for other auditions-"

"I believe he would be able to squeeze in an extra audition," the red-dressed woman offered, quite clearly over-hearing their conversation. "He has an extra few minutes after Technically Numb. I could try and get you in there."

Charlie, Darren and Donny turned around to face her again. Their faces lit up and Lee and Darren shuffled around the guitar cases on their backs; Donny took his drumsticks out of his pockets (a full set of drums would be far too hard to carry around the streets of New York) and grinned.

The woman who worked in the theatre building led Lee, Darren and Donny through the doors and into the hall, which was decorated with large Rodriquez Ramirez posters identical to the one outside. Lee's eyes glittered at all of the framed records behind glass that were hung on the walls; records by people like The Beatles, David Bowie and The Buzzcocks. There were also posters and photos of various live acts, and framed instruments incased in glass, too. It was a sort of music lovers' paradise; Lee could live in there.

"Right this way," Heidi, the woman, said; knocking on a door and peeking her head through. Rodriquez Ramirez was in that room, listening to a band and tapping his pen on the table in front of him to the beat. Papers lay scattered on said table and speakers were stood at either side of it, blasting out the live music played by the band currently performing for Mister Ramirez; Technically Numb.

Ramirez turned his head to the door, looking over at Heidi. He nodded, signalling for her to speak. She then opened the door a little bit more and motioned towards Lee, Darren and Donny. Ramirez rolled his eyes and hissed the word "fine" at Heidi before turning back to Technically Numb and returning to tapping his sharpie on the desk.

"If you would, er, like to take a seat," Heidi said, smiling fakely. Donny was first to sit down; although what he done was more "launch himself" rather than "sit". Lee sat on the seat to his right, laying back and stretching before heaving out a heavy sigh of relief. She stretched her legs and started playing kickfights with Donny. Darren soon sat down slowly to Donny's right, looking very tense and figiting nervously with his fingers. Lee leaned forward past Donny glanced across to Darren with a sort of worried look and mouthed the words 'what's up?' at him. He also leaned forwards and leaned in to the left towards Lee, whispering, "Can you hear them? They're amazing. We're never going to get in."

Lee pouted and raised one eyebrow. "So, maybe they're slightly better, we can still go on," she explained, trying to smile; but in her heart she knew that Darren was probably more right now than she had ever been. Darren managed a small hesitant smile before turning his neck to face the wall straight ahead of him. There was a large black and white photo of The Beatles performing somewhere in England, signed by the 'famous four' themselves. He studied the details closely; their instruments, outfits, and expressions. They were pretty much the perfect band; great music, screaming fans ... if only Cheese Bubbles were like that.

Heidi coughed. "I think mister Ramirez is ready for you now," she said, holding her chin up high as Technically Numb stepped out of the door. They were whispering something about Ramirez being really strict and hard to please. If Technically Numb can't please him, how are we going to stand a chance? Darren thought to himself, before staring up at Sonny Peserville as she walked past. She glanced at him and smiled slightly before turning away, bass guitar in its' case strapped to her back.

She pushed Darren and Donny into the large, almost empty room. Rodriquez Ramirez was jotting something down on a peice of paper, paying no heed at all to the three teenagers who had just entered the room. Lee and Darren unstrapped their guitar cases from their backs and pulled out the instruments, kneeling down to plug them into amps that were at the left and the right. Darren sat himself down on the stool that was behind the Pearl 5-Piece drum kit further back in the room, and starting playing a quiet drum beat to get used to the drums. They gave quite a punchy, persistant tone - and then Donny wrote another thing on his mental Christmas list.

Lee plucked the strings on her guitar, making sure they were in tune. After finding them not to be, she twisted the guitar pegs and plucked the strings again until they sounded right. After playing around with them for a minute or two, she played some quiet chords without turning the amp on. Sounds alright, she thought, and kneeled down to switch on the power. Darren done the same but took less time, only having four strings, and was ready to start. Lee walked closer to the microphone and tapped it a few times -

"Don't tap the equipment," Ramirez spoke in a gruff tone, looking up for a second. "It's pretty damn expensive, so you better be careful unless you're looking for something to spend hundreds of dollars on for me."

"Band name?" Ramirez inquired before letting Lee finish. He continued looking down at a peice of paper, this time twiddling his pen between his fingers. He was a well-built, chubby - or even fat - man, whose chubby fingers worked hard to do things like twiddle pens. He was never one to respect kids or teenagers, he would normally just sigh and shake his big bald head.

"Cheese Bubbles," Lee answered nervously, worried that revealing the name would be a mistake.

Rodriquez Ramirez sighed and 'tsk'ed, shaking his big bald head. Never the less, he scribbled down the name on to a peice of paper, as long as two other words - 'brave guitarist'. He looked up at the trio again and flicked his wrist, gesturing for them to hurry up and begin.

"Well, todaaaaay ..." Lee spoke into the microphone again, looking over at Darren for support. He flipped his fringe to the side again and also gestured for her to keep going. " ... we'll, er, be covering a song by OK Go, called A Million Ways. We hope you, er ..." Darren shook his head; saying 'we hope you enjoy it' was a step too far. Ramirez was known for being a simple, straight forward guy. Saying 'we hope you enjoy it' would score minus points. " ... yeah, we'll start," Lee said, getting her fingers in the right position.

Donny started by banging his drums a bit, before laying down the loudness, reverting to a normal drumbeat for the song. Lee played the intro, bending her fingers on certain strings, emphasizing the distortion. Darren, seemingly confidently, played the bassline, staring down at his guitar with a cool expression.

"Sit back, matter of fact," Lee began to sing. She looked up at mister Ramirez, who nodded his head to the beat and stared back at Lee. This sort of put Lee off, but she managed to sing and play guitar to her usual standards never the less. "Teasing, toying, turning, chatting, charming, hissing, playin' the crowd ..."

Donny grinned, bashing the drums on the drum kit heartily. Darren glared over at Lee in a way that encouraged her to keep going without getting nervous. "Play that song again, 'nother couple klonopin, a nod, a glance, a half-hearted bow ..." Lee sung into the mic, looking over to Darren again and smiling. "Oh, such grace ... oh such beauty ... and lipstick, and callous, and fishnets and malice, oh darlin' ... you're a million ways to be cruel ..."

"One, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero cruel ..." Darren sang into his lower-volumed mic that stood in front of him. He was used to doing the backup vocals; he didn't like being at the front.

"You're a million ways to be cruel," Lee sang again, before returning to the guitar line that she played in the intro. Her fingers were very quick at changing to the different strings, and she was quite good with a plectrum, which she was using just now. Her fingers were certainly hard at work at the moment. "I should, wish I could, maybe if you were, I would, a list of stand issue regrets ... one last eighty-proof, slouchin' in the corner booth, baby it's as good as it gets ..."

"Oh such grace," She belted out, pouring everything into the notes she sung. She was trying her hardest to blow Ramirez away, and so were Donny and Darren. "Oh, such beauty ... so precious, suspicious, and charmin', and vicious - oh darlin' ... you're a million ways, oh darlin' ... you're a million ways to be cruel!"

"One, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero cruel ..." Darren sang, starting the 'one' as soon as Lee sang the word 'cruel'. He had a good feeling about this performance, it was certainly going well.

After repeating the line "oh darlin', you're a million ways to be cruel" a few more times, and playing their instruments along, they were almost at the end of the song. The instruments were getting louder, the drums were getting heavier, and Lee sung, "oh, oh, oh, ohh ... !"

Letting all of the instruments fade away before she started, she let go of her guitar so it swung on by the leather strap around her shoulder. Cupping her hands around the microphone and her mouth, she sang the line "Oh ... you're a million ways to be cruel ..." quietly. Finally, she walked backwards from the mic, and Darren did too. Donny grinned as he sat back, holding his drumsticks firmly in his hand. The expression on his face was surely pleased.

There was a moment of silence between the three teenagers and Rodriquez Ramirez. He had picked up the cigar from the ashtray that was sat on the table on top of some papers and started smoking it. He puffed out one last lease of smoke and stubbed the end in the ashtray.

Breaking the silence, Donny spoke. "So ... what did you think?" He asked, placing his feet on the ground and leaning in forwards in an inquisitive way.

Ramirez tilted his head slightly and sighed. After a few seconds, he leaned in, his elbows leaning on the table to support him. "It was ..." he started. Lee, Darren and Donny all breathed in quickly and held their breath in a tense way. "... good."

Lee grinned and giggled, holding firmly onto the neck of the guitar. With another flip of his hair, Darren smiled. Donny cheered and clapped his drumsticks together.

"Although," Ramirez said, shuffling around in his seat and instead leaning on just his left elbow, "you could do with a keyboardist. That song really needed just a bit more keys."

"Of course, mister Ramirez, sir," Lee laughed, "I'm sure we could do that. B-but ... did we ... get through?"

"Well." Ramirez said, moving his ashtray to the side. He scratched his bald head and looked at the three teens again, pausing to think. "I guess, if you get a keyboardist, you will do."

Lee let go of her guitar and raised her hands in a very gleeful way. She laughed and smiled so much that her jaw began to hurt. Donny laughed heartily and stood up from the stool, coming to stand in between Darren and Lee. Darren grinned and turned to face Donny, with whom he high-fived and smiled.

"Now, hurry along, kiddos," Ramirez said gruffly. "And I don't want to see you again until it's time to compete. You'll get letters through yer doors after you give your details to Heidi."

"Yes, sir," Donny and Darren said in unison, laughing together, as they exited the room. Cheese Bubbles, together, had never been happier.

(OOC: Check out this thread if you're interested in making a cameo here with a band of your own~)

BIC:

A lot of people don’t realize in how many ways your life is controlled by your biological sleep patterns. Most people have good days or bad days, depending on how late they go to bed and how early they get out of bed. Some people are so-called ‘early birds’, who like to get up early in the morning and go to bed early in the evening, and who often get sleepy earlier as regular people. Other people are ‘night owls’, who like to get up late and go to bed late in the evening, and cannot function well in the morning.

If those descriptions were accurate, then Emily was one hell of a night owl.

Sipping her coffee (An unusual drink for a fifteen-year old, but one of Emily’s favorite ways of getting herself to wake up properly), strong Brazilian cappuccino, Emily’s brain was barely active enough to her mother’s voice talking to her.

‘…And remember, Emily, don’t go trough small alleys!’ Emily grumbled. ‘Mum, that’s the twentieth time you told me that. I know there’s a lot of crime there.’ She ignored her urge to add ‘This is New York City, crime’s everywhere.’, and instead munched her peanut butter sandwich.

Emily’s mother, a 38-year old brunette, just like Emily, checked her purse one more time to see if everything was there, before giving Emily a quick smooch on the cheek. ‘See you later, darling! If I’m not back before dinnertime, there’s pizza in the freezer!’ And the door closed.

Apart from the sounds of traffic in the background, which Emily had gotten used to in a matter of days after they moved in here three weeks ago, the penthouse seemed awfully quiet when Emily was alone. She took a deep breath, finished her sandwich and went to her room to change.

About ten minutes later, she checked her outfit in the large mirror in her room. Stylish, dark red leather boots, skinny jeans, a white t-shirt with a vintage John Legend print, a short leather vest that matched her boot’s colour and a black belt with silver buckle; Not girly at all but not tomboyish either. First impression was always very important on a new school.

She took a look inside her jewelry drawer. She had several sets of necklaces, earrings and bracelets. After some trying and fitting, she decided to go with a teardrop-shaped set of earrings with rainbow colours.

When she decided she looked good enough, she grabbed her keys and cell phone, before leaving.

~~~

-A couple of miles away-

‘…Yes, no- Oh, c’mon. You know I love purple- Yeah, but it doesn’t work with brown leather! ...What? Black leather today? Are you turning emo or something… Yes, black and purple works, but still- Oh, fine, I’ll just go with green and blue. But tomorrow is my turn- Okay, see you later.’

Diego sighed as the Ben L’Oncle Soul music played in the background, coming from an Ipod plug-in speaker set. Purple was his favorite colour, a colour that he loved in shirts especially, and he had looked forward to wearing it today; But Hunter, his best friend, had decided he wanted it. He decided to go with a neon-green T-shirt and marine blue waistcoat, a shawl that had both colours as well along with white, black and grey, a black hat, regular Husky jeans and white-blue sneakers.

He checked his wristwatch; a shiny golden one, tightly secured around his left wrist. It had a large square clock face with a background that featured an image of a piano’s keyboard, made into a circle along the edges.

Seeing that it was about time to go, he left his room and went down to the kitchen, following the sweet scent of his mother’s French toast.

~~~

-Later, Campbell High-

‘Silence, class!’ Mr. Perez told the teenagers in the class Diego, Hunter and Lucas, another friend of Diego’s and Hunter’s as well, were in. The class, group 4B, complied quickly. Perez was a nice teacher, but he could get very angry if you ignored him.

‘Before we start this lesson, I’d like to introduce a new class member. She moved here recently, and I hope you’ll be able to make her feel welcome.’ The words were quite unnecessary, because 4B was known as a friendly class; In comparison to most classes, anyway.

Diego looked at the girl standing next to Mr. Perez. A regular height, skinny, brown hair. She had the right clothes (A John Legend T-shirt that was quite epic), and obviously knew her trends, but she had a look of slight arrogance that bugged him a little.

‘My name is Emily Clark, sixteen years old. I came here from a town in Florida with my mom. I… Hope I’ll have a good time here, I guess?’ The girl, Emily, said. To Diego, it didn’t seem like much of an issue; He saw other girls looking at her clothing and face, with looks of approval, and he saw the eyes of most boys in her class hovering somewhere in between her stomach and neck.

‘Any questions, class?’ Mr. Perez asked them. Diego raised his hand. ‘Yes, Mr. Wright?’ Diego smiled crookedly. ‘So you’re from Florida? What’s it like being Cuban?’ He asked, and several people snickered and laughed. Emily just raised her eyebrows. ‘My passport is American, if you want to check it.’ Was the wittiest comeback she could think of.

‘Alright, let’s find you a place to sit.’ Mr. Perez said, looking around. ‘Mhm, we’re quite stocked in here… Ah, right next to Miss Stewart?’ Emily nodded and sat down at the appointed seat. The girl next to her winked as the lesson began. ‘Hey, how are you? I’m Leah.’ The girl had flamboyant red hair, with large curls, and freckles on her face. Her eyes were a deep gray, which didn’t really seem to fit with her positive looks; She seemed like a very happy and friendly girl.

‘I’m fine, thanks.’ Emily said, smiling back at the girl. ‘I guess, as your new neighbor, I’ll tell you a little something about the class, the others and the teachers… It’ll have to wait ‘till Arts Class though, which is, fortunately, our next hour. The atmosphere is much better over there.’

It was not until they had actually arrived at the Arts classroom that Emily found out what Leah had meant with a ‘better atmosphere’. The entire room looked peaceful, with the windows open with a view on a large, blossoming tree and birds singing, simple white walls with large, beautiful framed drawings. Simple green beanbags in random groups and circles were to be used as seats. The teacher was a tall guy in his forties, with a bandana and a four o’clock on his face.

‘The whole point of Arts Class is sitting down and chatting with your friends, just make sure you doodled something by the end of the lesson and he will give you an A+. This is everyone’s favorite hour!’
The two of them sat down on two beanbag in the corner of the classroom, giving an excellent view of everyone in the room.

Leah started to speak, softly, and gave Emily a complete story on everyone, including background, interests, odd characteristics; It surprised Emily that a person could know so much about others. She interrupted Leah only once while she was talking, asking her why she knew so much about everyone.

Leah winked at her. ‘I’m a curious girl. My Dad hates me for it, but I can’t help it.’ She said, and Emily didn’t know if she was joking or not.

Eventually, they landed on the guy who had made the Cuban remark, a joke that everyone from Florida had to go through sometime in their life. He didn’t look like a bully though; He had sharp, bat-like facial features and an overly happy expression on his face.

Leah giggled. ‘You’re staring, you know.’ She said. Emily blinked and shook her head, embarrassed. ‘No surprise, really. His name’s Diego Wright. He’s really good with languages, he speaks loads of them. He’s not very good at mathematics, but his buddy Hunter Moore backs him up on that. I don't think you really have a chance at him, though; He's very gay.’

Leah pointed at the boy next to Diego, a slightly taller guy with a tan skin. He was very muscled, even in comparison to Diego. Hunter was not quite bad-looking, with brusque features that somehow reminded Emily of a canine. ‘Hunter Moore is a very athletic boy, probably one of the strongest in the entire school. He is gay like Diego, although they are not in an relationship or anything. He has a serious personality, and he’s good at mathematics and physics. The third, and last, person in their little clique is Lucas Miller.’

Emily looked at the boy called Lucas. He had a very fair and handsome, almost elf-like face, with bright emerald eyes like her own and frisky hair of the purest white, with one strand hanging over his left eye. ‘Lucas is from Germany, and speaks English and German fluidly, along with a bit of Dutch since he lived near the border. Not that anyone understands Dutch here.’ Leah said, giggling slightly.

‘He’s a very shy and nervous boy, but pretty much every girl in the school likes him for his good looks and friendly behavior. Don’t try to pick on him; Diego and Hunter will defend him. And you do not want to fight with those two.’ Leah said. ‘Any questions?’

~~~

‘Any ideas on which club you want to join?’ Leah asked Emily while they were walking through the hall to Spanish. Emily shook her head. ‘I don’t even know what kinds of clubs there are here.’ Leah frowned. ‘Well, I guess I can help you out. Any hobby’s?’ She asked.

Emily smiled. ‘Well, you make it seem so easy. I’ve played the bass for quite a couple of years now. Maybe a music group?’ She answered. Leah nodded. ‘In that case, there’s either the jazz band, the rock band or the so-called ‘collective’ music group, which pretty much means they that they do any kind of music. The latter one is often viewed as the best band in school… But there’s only three members; Diego Wright, Hunter Moore and Lucas Miller.’

Emily stopped dead in her tracks, but Leah was quicker. ‘Don’t let that be the reason of joining the group, Emily. You might feel sorry for it later.’ Emily wanted to disagree, but knew Leah was probably right. ‘You know what, I’ll take your for a small tour during first lunch break. The bands usually have lunch in their practice rooms, so I could ask them to play a little for you so you can check them all out. Deal?’ Emily laughed. ‘How could I ever say no to someone that has such a bossy tone? Deal!’

~~~

‘…Okay guys, let’s take Hey Soul Sister from the top one more time-‘ Diego was interrupted by a triple knock on the door. ‘Come in.’ Diego said, his eyebrows raised.

The door opened and revealed two girls from their class; Leah, their class president, and the new girl Emily. ‘Hey Leah, hey Emily, what’s up?’ Diego said. ‘What brings you here?’ Leah smiled at him, and Emily attempted to; But her eyes flashed everywhere, from his eyes to his clothes, to Lucas, to Hunter, back to him. Obviously, she wasn’t sure what to say or do. The three of them often had this effect on girls- and some boys. Leah always seemed unaffected though; Maybe she was just good at hiding her emotions.

‘I’m introducing Emily to our three school bands. You guys are our last stop.’ Leah said. ‘Oh, you’re into music as well? What instrument?’ Diego asked Emily, who finally seemed to have regained her posture. ‘Bass.’ A gleam appeared in Diego’s eyes, along with a big smile on his face. ‘No way! We’ve been looking for a good bassist forever!’ He threw an arm around Emily, who flushed red. ‘Welcome to the team, Emily!’ He said happily, not noticing the slightly suspicious look in Leah’s eyes.

(OOC: Whoo really long post that has nothing do with making music<3 Don't worry, the musical stuff will happen soon enough )

"Did you see that guy? He looked like such a drab," Sonny Peserville laughed as she exited the theatre. Johnny laughed too, and eventually so did Harry and Garret. Sonny continued to talk slightly mindlessly to herself as the band walked through the streets of New York; the boys just stayed at the back and muttered to each other until Sonny said "right?"; at which they would all utter a half-hearted "Yeah," and then continued to mutter to themselves.

"I bet he'd be easy to use," Sonny said, walking in front of the boys by quite a bit. She laughed and flipped her hair continuously, coupled with her various hand gestures. As she walked past various people, quite a few groups of girls glared at her enviously before turning back to their friends and hissing things about Sonny. Sonny, of course, took this fully in her stride and flipped her hair again, before spying for groups of boys to pry on instead. When she walked past them, however, they done the exact opposite of the girls; they whistled and stared at her. Sonny done this intentionally; she always liked being the envy of girls and the crush of boys. It somehow made her feel better about herself.

"Okay, when we're writing down songs we're doing for this thing, I need to do some seductive ones."

~*~​

Lee quickly stuck the lead into the space on the bottom of her guitar.

She played a few low chords, one after the other, somewhat being an intro to a song. She played a few slightly higher chords before stopping for 3 taps of her foot, letting Donny start drumming a simple drumbeat. She played lots of higher, single notes and played around with her wammy bar, grinning and turning around to face Donny. Donny chuckled and nodded to the beat, continuing to tap his drums. He was sitting on a stool behind one of their school's drumkits, wearing a white Pink Floyd t-shirt and worn, ripped baby blue jeans. Lee, on the other hand, was wearing a blue embroidered scarf and white t-shirt with a flowy blue sleeveless unbuttoned cardigan that hung just above her knees. She was wearing black skinny jeans and grey converse, topped off by a silver-and-diamoned K-ON! necklace of an electric guitar, with a pink scratch plate.

Darren looked upwards. He noticed his bandmates giggling and playing a song from a Kirby game, called Green Greens. He was familiar with this song through Lee constantly trying to figure it out on guitar, and finally she had got it right. Darren picked up his glass and sipped some more iced tea from it, before standing up.

He silently walked over to Lee's amp. Because she was facing the other way, he could easily kneel down and pull out the lead from her guitar. Donny's drumbeat gradually got slower and slower before he stopped playing altogether and just stared at Lee, who had yet to notice that her guitar had been unplugged. She opened her eyes and noticed Donny blinking confusedly at her, and soon stopped playing when she realised that she was playing acoustically.

Quickly she turned around and glared at Darren.

"Darren," she spat out sadly, "why did you unplug my guitar? I was playing really well there!"

"Yeah, well you shouldn't be playing bloody Kirby songs," Darren said, sighing. "We're supposed to be practising for a musical performance show, Lee. One that's going to be broadcast on television. We're not going to get much positive feedback if we play stupid video game music."

"Hey, it's not stupid!" Lee cried, pouting. "It's catchy! It's still music, even if it's just used in a game."

Lee and Darren started debating over whether or not it was proper music. Donny eventually got bored listening to it all and started messing around on the drums again. After a few minutes of them bickering, it was stopped by something hitting the floor loudly.

All three of the members of Cheese Bubbles simultaneously turned to look at the music room door at the right of the room where there stood an African-looking girl, dark skin, black hair. She had her long frizzy hair tied up in two large buns further up at either side of her head, and was dressed in a yellow dress with white straps and a white fabric flower. The loud banging noise was placing her amp quite heavily on the wooden laminate floor of the school music room. She gripped the keyboard she held between her left arm and her body with her free hand seeing as she was no longer using it to carry the small amp. There was a moment of silence as the teen shuffed around in her small white shoes and the members of Cheese Bubbles moved along so they were all standing in front of them, beside each other. After a while, the girl coughed quietly.

"... you know, we have our own amp-" Lee started, but was cut short as Darren elbowed her in the ribs.

"So, are you here to audition for our band?" Darren asked, laughing slightly and smiling awkwardly at the girl. Straight after asking so, Lee gripped Darren's shoulder and Donny's too, pulling them to face the opposite way, and whispered to them.

"Audition?" She hissed very quietly so just Donny and Darren could hear. "But no one else has even applied for the place! She's sort of, er, automatically in."

"What if she's crap-" Donny began to say but he stopped when he realised he was talking at normal volume level. He stood up a bit more and looked backwards to see the girl standing innocently at the door, just waiting for something to happen. "What if she's crap?" Donny whispered when he bent over to the same height as Lee and Darren.

Darren looked back at Donny and Lee. "We'll just hear her play then, shall we?"

The trio turned back to the girl and smiled in unison. Darren elbowed Lee gently from the back, signalling for her to go up and speak to the girl. Lee quickly stepped forwards and smiled at the girl who was around her height if not a tad taller than her.

"Oh, Jessy," Lee grinned. "So you'd like to join our band? I take that you play keyboard," she said quite plastically, seeing as it was quite obvious that she did so.

"Erm, yup," Jessica smiled, clapping her hand to the keyboard again. "Eheh, if you have a stand or anything I could play for you just now."

"Oh!" Lee said, her face lighting up by a considerable amount. She clasped her hands together and flipped her fringe to the side, just for it to sway back again. She looked and turned backwards to Darren, smiling at him. Darren rolled his eyes and took her smile as a command to get out a keyboard stand; a command which he followed. He turned and walked towards the windows on the left side of the room beside the stacks of chairs, where some musical equipment was kept. Underneath piles of tambourines, bongos and guitar tuners there was a single folded up keyboard stand, which Darren pulled out from underneath the bulk and set up in front of the large chalkboard to the wall on the right of the door.

Jessica smiled and let out a small "Thanks," for Darren, before placing her keyboard upon the stand and plugging it into her miniature amp. She flicked on the switch and turned up the volume bar on her keyboard, before typing in the number for her preferred tone and playing a few notes to check it was okay. Lee, Donny and Darren pulled out black plastic chairs and placed them a few metres away from Jessica, all sitting on them and getting ready to listen to her.

"Could we ask which song you'll be playing, Jessy?" Darren said, trying his best not to sound nervous in front of a new person or to sound slightly rude.

"Oh, sorry," Jessica laughed, brushing her hand through her hair nervously. "I'll, em, be playing The Lovecats by The Cure," she smiled, returning her hands to her ready-to-play position. She was just about to start before she was interrupted by Lee, who was now leaning forward in her seat, looking far more excited than she was before.

"The Lovecats?" she grinned, now getting so excited she began swinging her legs. "Do you sing, or do you just play keyboard?"

"I just play keyboard, really," Jessica replied, laughing and scratching her neck nervously. "I might be able to do backup vocals, but not for a whole song ... unless I need to," she said slightly reluctantly, though still smiling in Lee's direction.

"W-would you mind if I sung lead vocals whilst you played?" Lee pleaded, her eyes beginning to almost sparkle. She stopped swinging her legs and instead clapsed her hands on her lap in a hopeful sort of way. Both Darren and Donny leaned over to see Lee in her very hopeful pose, both looking quite awestruck and confused. It wasn't very ordinarily that Lee would look so happy and dreamy at the same time, so it was fairly obvious that she really did love that song and was determined to sing it with Jessica.

Jessy grinned. "I would love for you to sing it!" she almost sung happily, nearly beginning to sway side from side. "Just as long as you don't do any creepy Robert Smith dances whilst you're doing it," she giggled as Lee rose from her seat and stood beside Jessica. Lee laughed too, answering with "I don't know, I think Robert Smith's pretty cute~"

Jessica nodded in agreement before beginning the song with an eerie chord, like a cat whining - just like The Cure did for their song. She moved the distortion wheel for the note to waver slightly at the end, and Lee's eyes sparkled with admiration. Jessy grinned at Lee's reaction before playing the first few chords for the song, doing so in perfect timing and with the perfect chords. When it was her time, Lee sang with the keyboard, "We move like cagey tigers, oh we couldn't get closer than this ... the way we walk, the way we talk, the way we stalk, the way we kiss~!"

Jessy and Lee played and sung together happily, right through the song, including a few screeches from Lee in place of cat sound effects. When Jessica finished off the song, there was a moment of silence before Darren and Donny broke it by clapping heartily for Jessica. Jessy blushed happily and joined her hands behind her back, nodding gratefully as Darren and Donny walked up to her and patted her on the back, as well as complimenting her in various ways, such as "That was pure excellent," and "I wish I could touch keys and make them sound as nice as that".

"You're definetly in the band," Darren chimed happily, flipping his hair to the side for around the twentieth time today. "That was superb, really. You're much better than any of us could ever be."

"Eheh, thanks," Jessy smiled, shaking hands with Darren when he held out his hand. She blushed considerably at that action and almost curtsied for him. She was a very nervous person at first, but after a while she became very open and glad around people. She was still slightly nervous and shy with these three teenagers she had now joined a band with, so she still thought very highly of them and was still quite flattered when they complimented her like that. "I've been playing keyboard for years, since I was six."

"Really?" Donny said, rather surprisedly, replying to Jessica. "That's quite a long time. I've been playing drums since I was, er ... nine or so?"

Jessica laughed. "That's still longer than me," she smiled. "I mean, you're older than me, right? I haven't seen you around school before," she asked curiously, but in no way nosily.

"Yeah, I'm eighteen," he grinned happily, finally taking his hands out from his pockets. "I'm originally from Spain, but you wouldn't be able to tell, seeing as I moved here when-"

"Hey, guys!" a voice called before the door swung open loudly, "there's mail for you!"

---

(OOC: I would put more but I need to discuss it with Dark first. :x But yeah, here you go |D)

Emily blinked. ‘I’m already in? Shouldn’t I, like, audition first?’ She asked Diego. Diego frowned. ‘You can audition if you want. It just wouldn’t serve any purpose, since I already decided you’re the new bassist. We’re kinda desperate for one.’

He went back to stand behind his keyboard. It was a large, black keyboard with all sorts of buttons and lights, that made no sense whatsoever to Emily. ‘I’m taking you don’t have your bass guitar with you?’ Diego asked. Emily shook her head. ‘Ah well, we’ll see it tomorrow. Now I guess we should introduce our instruments…’ He said, winking at her. Hunter smiled. ‘In other words, he wants to show off. What’s it gonna be, Diego? K-ON or Touhou?’ Hunter said.

‘Neither.’ Diego said. ‘If I’m going to improvise anyway, I might as well do one of the hardest pieces I know.’ He pressed a button, one shaped like a piano wing, and started playing.

It was quite amazing, the way Diego’s fingers flew over the keyboard, with almost inhuman speed and rhythm. After the song ended, he randomly spinned and eventually faced Emily. ‘Well?’ He said, with a glint in his eyes. ‘Dude, I think you’re slightly scaring her.’ Hunter remarked.

‘That was… Wow. Just, wow.’ Emily said. Apparently, that was good enough for Diego, who smiled widely. ‘Your turn, bro!’ Diego said.
‘Don’t say bro.’ Hunter said without any particular expression, and placed his hands on the strings of his guitar. ‘I guess I’ll just shred a little…’ He said, placing his right feet on one of the pedals.

‘I’m taking you’re a fan of metal?’ Emily asked, when Hunter ended the solo. Hunter shrugged. ‘Some of it, yes. Did you like it?’ Emily nodded. ‘I’m not much of a fan myself, but I envy your speed. You’re good.’ She said, and meant it.
‘Your turn, Luke.’ Hunter said. Lucas didn’t say anything, just nodded, and grabbed his drum sticks.

A faint, smug grin appeared on Lucas’s face while he was jamming, but it disappeared when he was done. His cheeks were slightly red, and not from exhaustion either.

‘Poor little Lucas, so afraid to show his talents.’ Diego said, his eyes glinting. ‘What did you think?’ Lucas said, ignoring Diego. ‘Nice sense of rhythm, I guess. And boy, you’re fast.’

At that moment, the bell rang. ‘Oh, time for school again!’ Diego said, switching off his keyboard. ‘Could you bring your bass guitar with you tomorrow?’ He continued, and took a couple of papers from his backpack.

‘Here’s a song that I’ve been wanting to do for ages. If you could practice the bass part, we might be able to play it tomorrow.’ Diego said, winking at her. She felt a weird little spasm somewhere in her stomach area.
‘Anyway, welcome to the Sound Warriors, Emily!’

(OOC; What no this ttly isn't very very late >> I feel really meh about this post, but I suppose it's sufficient. And yes, my posts here so far are indeed nowhere near as long/good as Tunnie's~)

It was Cameron, a boy two years below Darren, Lee, and evidently Jessica. He had run through the door excitedly with a thin letter in his hand, his bright blonde spiky hair bobbing up and down slightly as he breathed heavily. He was generally the messenger for the office, and he could be seen running around the school a lot during free periods. He was known to have quite a big crush on Lee, so he would always get even more excited if he needed to deliver something to her or one of her classes.

Lee peered over to the door. As she noticed Cameron, her eyes rolled around in their sockets, her chest heaving a long, heavy sigh.

"Okay, okay, what is it?" she asked only half-interested, strolling over to the shorter boy. Although Lee was short, Cameron was a couple of inches shorter, so she could finally peer even the slightest bit downwards - she liked this.

"It was delivered to the school's e-mail," Cameron spoke in his slightly high-pitched - and at this point, exasperated - voice, his face flushing a vibrant red just as Lee looked into his eyes. He looked back into hers deeply; far, far deeper than she had to his. "They printed it out and put it in this envelope then told me to give it to, er, you and Darren and Donny and, um," Cameron peered over at Jessica and mumbled something inaudable, "so I said 'okay', and here I am!"

Cameron seemed even more exhausted by the end of that.

Lee just looked at him in an enquisitive (if not slightly peeved) way, and the others' eyes darted around the room, seeming quite bored or tiresome. To end the slightly awkward silence, Cameron began to speak in an even higher and quieter voice. "I-It's from, er, someone called Ramirez ..."

With this, Lee's eyes lit up. "Ramirez?" she grinned and somewhat snatched the envelope from Cameron before tearing it open and ripping the folded paper out. She pulled over a swivel chair from her left, which was deposited by a small green square table, and sat upon it before pushing herself and it to one of the larger tables. Darren, Donny and Jessica all swarmed excitedly to where Lee was now positioned, and after all muttering something like 'read it now' simultaneously, Lee unfolded the white sheet of paper and began.

She quickly skimmed over the e-mail adress in the top-right-hand corner, belonging to Ramirez Studios, and then began to read the letter aloud.

"Dear bands," she began to read quickly, her eyes shining as the letters intrigued her and played with her head. A million thoughts were running around her brain at the same time; all clashing and squirming within each other. She paused for a few long seconds, trying to properly think over some of these thoughts - but was prompted to keep reading by Donny who was nudging Lee on the shoulder. "Out of the couple of hundreds of bands auditioned," the others gasped slightly, "I have been able to pick out 20 to be on our new TV show, Right to Shine. As I believe I or my sectretaries told you when you auditioned, each band will be homed in a (rather big) flat that I rented out; each in a room shared with a member (or two) of another band. Below this message I've written the bands I've put through with the bands they'll be sharing a flat with."

Lee and Jessy squeeled simultaneously before Darren looked over at the door to check that Cameron was gone. After doing so he grinned and made some sort of noise indicating pleasure himself, then high-fiving Donny, and looking back over Lee's shoulder.

"Okay, lemme see ..." Lee muttered as she rolled her finger down the paper, her eyes skimming over the names quickly. She searched for her band's name hurriedly as she breathed in and out heavily through her nose. When her line of vision rolled past the eighth pairing, it scrolled back up swiftly. There it was. She squeeled.

She quickly stood up and almost flung the chair she sat on backwards with her legs, holding up the letter in her right hand and waving her arms around frantically. Jessica grinned and hugged Lee, giggling in a soft and kind sort of way. Darren chuckled softly to himself and Donny celebrated in each and every way he could find possible. After a few minutes of chattering to each other (involving some squeels), Darren managed to snatch the white sheet off of Lee. He held it gently in his hands and uncreased it carefully with his fingers after muttering, "okay, so who are we grouping with ... ?" Donny, Jessica, and Lee all stood around him, waiting to see the answer Darren would reveal to his own question.

"M-mister Ramirez, sir," a strange looking girl with bright green eyes and black hair asked, her voice quivering considerably as she talked, and her toes pointing inwards in a very shy and strange-looking way. She fiddled with the frilled cotton of her dress as she spoke; she looked very nervous indeed. "Do we have specific t-times in the studios, o-or do we just go in and-and, see if anyone's th-there?"

Rodriquez Ramirez sighed and shook his head. He had been explaining about living in the flats, going on the shows and everything else necessary several times and was now taking questions. They way he spoke was very interesting and they way he described was very intriguing indeed; everyone was captivated by him and his sarcastic humour, and they were all just desperate to see what he said and get cracking with the show and the music. Everyone's eyes were on him - well ... almost everyone's.

Lee couldn't help but look away. There was a boy on the left side of the stage in Ramirez Studios standing with a crowd, on the opposite side of Cheese Bubbles, just catching Lee's attention. He was almost beautiful in a way to her; his white hair that shadowed his eyes elusively, to his plain yet interesting clothing. He was, well, very attractive.

"Ehem," Ramirez said, exaggerating clearing his throat. "You there," he said as he clicked his fingers together, "with the brown hair and blue eyes. 'Ey, stop staring at that boy!"

"Hu-what?" Lee blurted out quickly as her attention was shifted from the boy to Ramirez. He was looking at her with a semi-disappointed, very mildly disgruntled. Lee could have sworn that he would shout at her, but he just seemed to shrug it off. "Day-dreamin', are yah? Or ..." he paused, grinning at her, "Well, y'know, just don't stare at yer boy yah think's pretty, hrm?"

Lee's face flushed pure pink. Her cheeks began to burn up and she opened her mouth once or twice; only for no sound to come out. Most members of the other nineteen bands laughed dully before Ramirez continued to answer quite a few other stupid questions.

~*~​

"So, I'm with someone called 'Ruby Flores' ..." Jessica said to Lee as they lugged their bags and suitcases through the corridors of the flat building. It was right across the road from Ramirez Studios; getting up every day to practise wouldn't take very long at all. Lee giggled at Jessica as she yawned and trudged along the halls, looking rather tired already.

"It's not even dark at all yet," Lee smiled as she fixed her black and white striped hairband back in place for the umpteenth time that day. She looked along the walls of the corridors; the red and yellow wallpaper looked quite bold but appealing, and the smell of fresh flowers was rather welcoming and homely. She also felt quite bad for the soft, snow white carpet as she and Jessica treaded all over it. "Hurry up, boys!" she called backwards towards Darren and Donny who were still down the stairs. They were probably whispering about things that Lee nor Jessica were very interested in. "Anyway, I'm going in here," Lee said cheerily to Jessica as she turned to unlock the door to her left. She waved to Jessica and Jessica waved in return, and Lee pushed the door open. She quickly shoved her bags and suitcase inside before turning to her right just to look down the corridor and make sure Jessy had found her room. As she watched down the lane, she noticed the room to her immediate right. The room that Darren was going to be living in.

The rest of Emily’s day passed by quickly, without much trouble. Emily was slightly dazed; She had got into a band on her first day, even without her instrument! She had, though, noticed an odd expression on Leah’s face when they were at over at the Sound Warrior’s practicing room, but she hadn’t been able to really identify it. When second break had started, Emily decided to ask.

‘Hey, Leah?’ Emily said, as the two newfound friends both grabbed a dinner plate. ‘Hm?’ Leah reacted, seemingly lost in thought. ‘I kinda got the feeling that there’s something you don’t like about Diego.’ This got Leah’s attention, seeing as her glazy expression disappeared and turned into a grin. ‘Not just Diego, to be honest. Hunter as well.’ Leah answered. ‘There’s something… Unnatural about the two of them. I don’t mean their homosexuality or anything, but the way they act, and more importantly, the way people act around them. With people, I mean girls.’ She continued.

‘Biology is one of my favourite subjects, y’know. From a scientific point of view, it seems like both Hunter and Diego- But especially Diego- expel certain pheromones, hormones that have effect on other humans, that attract both females and most gay males. Normally, this effect is barely noticeable and perfectly natural.’ Leah scooped some mashed potatoes on her plate. ‘But in this case, it’s extreme. The pheromones the two of them expel, induce boosts of euphoria in the receiver’s brain. You should see how some girls’ nostrils flare whenever they’re near Diego.’ She stopped.

‘Did that make any sense?’ Leah asked her. It was a serious question, too. Emily smirked. ‘I’ve been able to follow you so far.’ She answered. ‘Okay, well. An excess of powerfull pheromones could be possible; It could be a rare, genetic freak of nature. But somehow, I think there’s more going on. I just have no idea what it is.’

When Emily entered the practicing room, the rest were already there, setting up their instruments. Emily’s bass guitar was in its case, on her back, and she put it down against the wall. ‘Am I late?’ Emily asked. ‘Nope, we’re just early.’ Diego said, smiling. ‘I’m glad we finally have a bassist. Did you practice the papers I gave you?’ He asked.

Emily nodded. ‘The bass part isn’t too hard. I’d never heard of You And The Rest,, but I like Razorlight.’ Emily said, as she put the papers on a stand and went over to her case to get her bass guitar.

‘Yeah, it’s quite the hidden treasure. I’ll be the lead singer for this song.’ Diego said, typing something on the laptop that was on top of a stack of speakers, near him. Hunter looked up from adjusting his strings when Emily took her bass guitar from its case, and put the strap around her shoulder.

‘Nice one.’ Hunter said, with a smile- A smile? A smile! ‘Thanks!’ Emily said, surprised. ‘A 5-string, by the looks of it?’ Hunter asked, as he stepped towards Emily. ‘Yep, 5-string. Has a Fender look to it. May I?’ He asked.

‘Ehm, sure.’ Emily said, and gave Hunter the bass. He played a little tune that Emily recognized as the intro of Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes. ‘Yeah, it’s a Fender. A Squier Affinity Jazz Bass.’ Emily felt proud saying that. Diego turned around, with a raised eyebrows. ‘Dude, wait, what?’ He said, jokingly. ‘Call it Elisabeth.’

‘Okay, guys. Ready?’ Diego said, two minutes later when they were done with the preparations. ‘And… One, two, three;’

Lucas started the intro, with a repetitive beat with his drum sticks on the metal edge of his floor tom. After a couple of seconds, Hunter came in with the guitar part of the intro, and threw in a soft background ooh.

‘You say you're thinking of me.
And you'll do it at any cost!
You say that you believe in life.
And in love you've never lost!’

There wasn’t really anything special about Diego’s voice whenever he talked; But Emily noticed that Diego was actually good at singing. His voice sounded a bit suave, which didn’t entirely fit the song, but it was good nonetheless.

’Everything keeps changing on me.
I can't tell you how I feel!
People shift and rearrange on me…
How should I know what is real?’

Hunter’s guitar part changed; the notes became higher.

’And it has been shown;
You can get broken bones.
And it has been proved;
That there’s much to lose…’

The guitar part changed back to its original tune, or something very close. But the beat changed as well; it became more simple, although still in the same rhythm, with a hi-hat added to it. A soft humming came from Diego’s keyboard.

’When we try to live as one… When we try to live as one!’

Directly at the start of the next verse, the bass guitar came in; Emily had been keeping track of the seconds and the beat. Timing wasn’t her best point- But she managed fine.

’You ask me where I've been…
And to you, I just can't lie!
There were only ever two women here;
You, and the rest that passed me by.’

After this verse, a couple of extra guitar notes came into the song. Hunter was keeping up well, luckily.

\And yes, I'm thinking of you.
Can't switch you off at any cost!
While I figure out these rules of love…
And pretend I've never lost!’

The music suddenly became louder and more energetic, as the beat and guitar part both changed. The keyboard and bass were probably the easiest side of this song, Emily realized.

’But I lost from the start!
I was kicked back hard…
Intake and backdraft blew,
Then flames consumed…
Where we try to live as one.’

This was the turning point of the song, when it became real indie rock; Every aspect of the song became louder, including Diego’s voice.

’I'm not making plans for tomorroooow!
I'm just figuring it out…
You can beg it steal or borroooow!
Or count me out…’

Emily enjoyed playing. For the first time, she got to see the Sound Warriors play in all their energy and ecstasy; Diego, standing behind his keyboard, singing in his smooth voice with his eyes closed- She felt that strange sensation in her stomach again-, Hunter rocking out on the guitar, Lucas’ arms moving rapidly and rhythmically.

’I see the moment disappeariiiiing!
And this joke is getting thi-i-in…
I see my enemy appeariiiiiiiing…’

The music suddenly became soft and simple again, a huge difference with the decibels from a few seconds ago.

’…And I’m him…’

After Diego threw in some more When You Get Back’s and Ooooh’s, the song ended. ‘How’s that, guys?’ Diego said, laughing, as he high-fived his bandmates. Emily felt great. She couldn’t have wished for anything more then this. ‘I do, however, feel that we miss something, guys.’ Diego said, suddenly growing serious. Hunter nodded. ‘In my departement, I think. Maybe we need a harmonizing guitarist.’

Lunch break was going to end in five minutes, and the four Sound Warriors were just packing their instruments, when Diego called out to the others. ‘Hey guys, e-mail from Ramirez!’ Emily had no idea what Diego was talking about, but Hunter and Lucas immediately went over to Diego as he opened the file.

‘Ramirez?’ Emily asked, as she joined them. ‘Oh, didn’t we tell you? We auditioned for the new TV sensation Right To Shine, a battle of the bands. I hope we got in!’ Diego said, and he seemed truly nervous, and yet really, really pumped.

Dear bands.

Out of the couple of hundreds of bands that auditioned, I have been able to pick out 20 to be on our new TV show, Right to Shine. As I believe I or my secretaries told you when you auditioned, each band will be homed in a (rather big) flat that I rented out; each in a room shared with a member (or two) of another band. Below this message, I've written the bands I've put through with the bands they'll be sharing a flat with.

Sincerely, Rodriquez Ramirez.

(PS: The legal forms have been sent to your parents/caretakers.)

There was a silence for a couple of seconds. And suddenly, Diego burst out into a frenzy, clinging to Hunter and Lucas in pure euphoria and jumping about. At the same time, Lucas and Hunter high-fived with broad smiles on their face, not paying too much attention to Diego.

Emily wasn’t sure how to react, but decided to go with a positive reaction and joined in the high-fiving and shoulder-patting. Diego was actually teary-eyed. ‘I can’t believe we got in!’ He said, laughing. ‘Now that we have a bassist, we’re even better!’

‘I still think we could use a harmonizing guitarist, to be honest.’ Hunter said, when they had quieted down a bit. ‘It would add so much to our music.’ Diego nodded. ‘I’ll make an announcement tomorrow.’

‘With who are we sharing our rooms, anyway?’ Emily asked. Diego scanned the rest of the e-mail. ‘Sound Warriors annnnnnd… Cheese Bubbles?’ He said, smiling. ‘Sounds cool. We’ll get the room assignments when we get there.’

And the day passed by.

The next day, after practicing You And The Rest again- Diego had decided to make it part of the regular repertoire- In the first break, the four Sound Warriors stepped into the canteen. The canteen was a huge room, with a permanent stage. Campbell High was a music/dance-orientated school; From time to time, one of the school bands, orchestra or dance clubs would do a school gig. It was also free for all to use to make announcements.

Diego walked onto the stage, and a couple of people threw surprised glances at him, but most of the teenagers didn’t notice him, or at least, not until he turned the microphone on and tapped on it, to gain everybody's attention. 'Hello, Campbell High!' Diego said, giving a slight wave as he faced his fellow pupils. 'I'm sure there've been rumours going around, and since it hasn't been made official yet, I'd like to confirm at least one of them; The Sound Warriors have indeed been chosen as one of the twenty bands to compete in the new TV talent show, Right To Shine!'

A small applause answered this, coming mostly from the girls, as well as a lot of jealous glances. 'Another announcement; The Sound Warriors are looking for a new guitarist to join them. If you're a good guitarist, male or female, who has enough free time and who hasn't joined a band yet, come to our practicing room after school, kay?'

-Later that day, Diego’s house-

Even though the temperatures in New York, early September, were gradually getting colder, Emily was still glad when they reached Diego’s house and received some cold ice tea from his mother, a friendly woman with dark blonde, long hair and colorful clothing. It was quite a ride from school to Diego’s house.

The house was quite beautiful, and especially quite large; It was mostly modeled in a strange feng shui fashion, with black and white colours everywhere, along with loads of blooming flowers. Diego called it ‘the combined taste of my Mom and Dad.’ There was no hallway; Once you entered the front door, you stepped right into the large living room/kitchen. There was a large black couch, shaped like a semi-circle, around a round glass table, where they were sitting right now. The floor was a shiny, waxed white. Behind the couch was the kitchen island, in the same fashion. But the best part of the room was the western wall.

It was made almost entirely of glass panels, giving a great view of the city below; The house was on the twelfth floor of a flat, above most of the other buildings in the neighborhood. Next to the wall, on an elevated part of the floor- with a couple of stairs to it- was a big, black piano wing. Emily guessed it belonged to Diego.

Three guitarists had come to their practicing room after school, to show off their guitar skills. Diego had made a quick question list, to see which person fitted in the best. He had also taped all three with his laptop’s webcam. Sitting on the couch, four persons trying to look at one screen, gave Emily an excellent reason to be crouched up against Diego. He didn’t seem to mind.

‘I like Ruby Flores. She wasn’t as good as Dan Matthews, but I like her personality.’ Diego said. Lucas nodded in agreement. ‘I think Dan Matthews would be a great addition to our band, but yeah, he’s a bit arrogant.’ Hunter said, scratching his chin. ‘Sienna Summers seemed like a nice girl.’ Emily said. ‘True, but she just started playing the guitar. We do need someone with more talent, even that sounds kind of mean.' Hunter answered. 'And if she improves, with a name like Sienna Summers, she would eventually go solo anyway.' Diego said, smiling.

'So, let's vote. Ruby Flores or Dan Matthews?' Emily said. Lucas, Diego and Emily voted Ruby, and with that, the Sound Warriors had gotten a new member. 'I'll contact her later on, guys.' Diego said, putting his laptop on the table. Just then, Mrs. Wright came back from the kitchen, holding a plate of cinnamon cookies, which the four teenagers assaulted like they hadn't eaten in days. Mrs. Wright was really good with cinnamon recipes.

'How did you guys come up with our name, anyway? Sound Warriors sounds kind of hardcore to me.' Emily asked, between taking bites of her cookie. 'Well, originally, we came up with dozens of names. From The New York Roses to Quicksilver. But eventually, we landed on the The Sound Warriors, and, well, it was the best name we could think of.' Hunter said, shrugging. 'I still like Woodstone.'

Diego rolled his eyes.

-Several days later, Right To Shine Apartments-

Diego, not really listening to the chatter of the people around him as the Sound Warriors walked trough the halls of the apartments that had been assigned to the bands, thought of all the things that he had seen today. After breakfast, they hadn't gone to school as usual; They had cycled to the apartment building opposite of Ramirez Records, with their luggage in Mr. Wright's trunk. He arrived a few minutes later.

Mr. Ramirez himself had shown all the bands the buildings that would be their homes and studio's for the next three months; The apartment building, which had lots of quite luxurious rooms, shared by the bands, and one huge lounge. The lounge was truly terrific. There were mess tables near the kitchen, were meals for served for those who weren't able to do self-catering with the apartment kitchens, and there was an enormous TV screen against the wall opposite of the kitchen, with a DVD player, Wii, Xbox, PlayStation and a stack of games of every genre. Under the TV screen, the floor was elevated, creating a platform where bands could perform for the others when they felt like it. Comfortable sofa's and even some beanbag chairs were placed all over the lounge. Here, they could have discussions, work on idea's or songs, or just hang out with each other. There were a couple of webcams and microphones lining the wall, to record the daily activities; People could see them live, on-line. Diego loved it.

After the apartment building, Ramirez showed them the stage, where they would be performing during the live shows. It basically consisted of a stage, with a long catwalk attached to the middle of the stage, that cut right trough the audience. Diego made a mental note to incorporate the catwalk into some of their songs. Against the back wall of the stage, and the sides, were screens. They were told that, before the rounds, they would get to pick a moving background, in every colour and pattern they liked.

Right now, the Sound Warriors were strolling trough the hallways of the apartment building, holding the lists of people they'd share their room with. Ruby was behind Diego, chatting with Emily. Ruby had indeed turned out to be a very nice person; She was friendly and caring, even though a couple of not very funny jokes had slipped her tongue. Diego guessed they'd have to take that shenanigan for granted.

They hadn't met their partners, the Cheese Bubbles, yet, but they would soon. Diego and Lucas shared their apartment with a boy called Darren Town, Hunter with Donny Gonzales, Emily with Charlotte MacDonald and Ruby with Jessica Dhabi. Hunter was the first to find his room, and told them he'd catch them later in the lounge.

Lee's heart was pretty much jumping out of her chest. She knew herself to be clumsy sometimes and maybe even a little bit awkward, but never so much so as this. She was stuttering, staggering; and just because she saw this boy.

With a sigh and a cough she pulled herself upwards and flattened out her red, blue and white plaid shirt. She adjusted the button necklace in place on her chest and breathed out deeply again. When she had thrown herself inside the hotel room and planted her back against the door, she had flung her multi-coloured suitcases and bags to the side, as well as her guitar case, and they had skidded slightly on the cream carpet and stopped to sit beside a brown sofa. The sofa looked very clean, almost completely new-looking. The carpet also looked very new; spic and span as Lee's parents would always say. She stroked her hand across the leather sofa, its surface was smooth and reflected the light from the bulbs overhead. There was a matching chair in front of the couch, positioned slightly to the left. It was a corner chair; the arms and back were two-sided so it could fit into small cornered spaces as well as open areas. In front of the two leather sitting units there stood a small wooden coffee table with a glossy polished shine to it, and a bowl of fruit lay on top. To Lee's delight there was a flatscreen TV positioned on the eastern wall, beside a smallish bookshelf that was just below screen-height. As Lee wandered the room to inspect the telivision she turned to face the opposite way and spotted a firm-looking beanbag. This room looks like fun, she thought.

She heaved herself back over to the couch and lunged over it to grab her huge suitcase with the purple, orange and green bags and leathery guitar case tied on top. She rolled it over to the door on the western wall and tugged at the doorknob, only to reveal a sparkling - almost sickly - clean bathroom. The floors sparkled, the sink glistened and the shower loomed and shone even brighter than everything else, it seemed. Lee sighed. She pulled the door over and trudged through the arch through which she could see some kitchen appliances; ladels and pastry brushes hanging on the wall, a shelf with a couple of pots and pans. Seriously, Ramirez ... must you make your bedrooms impossible to find?

Nevertheless, Lee walked on through with her bag making a racket behind her, rolling over countless ridges and bumps. Even though she wasn't too interested by the kitchen, she couldn't stop herself from standing in front of the fridge and gawking over it. It was a shining silver in colour, and was split down just off the middle with the smaller part being the freezer and the larger being the fridge. On the freezer door was a compartment with a few small buttons ... ice cubes, Lee gasped to herself.

She dropped her suitcase by her side and skidded over to the cabinets to her right to find a cup. After looking in one of the overhead cabinets to the left she pulled out a glass and shoved it underneath the small pusher that said "ice". After a second or two crushed ice dropped down from the compartment and filled the glass.

Darren was the second into his room, just after Lee. Their rooms were right beside each other so he heard her dump her bags and stomp through to the kitchen.

Darren's room was, well, huge. He was sharing it with two other boys from Sound Warriors, both of which had already arrived there. The first one was Lucas - he had pure white hair and he wasn't overly noisy, a bit like Darren but probably less sarcastic or stubborn at points.

The second was Diego; a dark-haired joyful boy who seemed way more upbeat than Darren and Lucas put together. He appeared to be a really nice, cheerful boy, but ... Darren couldn't help but feel the littlest bit strange as Diego winked at him as he entered. Did he ... ? Darren thought to himself, how does he ... ?

"Welcome, mister Town," Diego grinned when Darren entered his room, "or at least that's the name I have written down here." He laughed before continuing, "I'm Diego and I play piano or keyboard and do vocals for Sound Warriors." Diego thrust his hand outwards and Darren swapped the hand he held his suitcase handle in before continuing to shake with the other teenaged boy. His hands were soft and smooth - but large, as they would need to be for playing piano - as was his face and most of his features; Darren wasn't known for being attracted to other males but he could not say that Diego wasn't the slightest bit attractive.

Darren's eyes widened (though unnoticable beneath his thick fringe) and he felt his cheeks burn to a hot pink. He fiddled with the suitcase handle a bit, nervously, and he could feel his mouth opening and closing a few times without any words actually coming out.

Diego giggled. He pulled down his white t-shirt with blue and pink patterns and turned the spiked bracelet on his right wrist a few times before proceeding. "And this is Lucas, our drummer," he motioned towards the white haired boy who was currently unpacking a little bit. "You should go over and talk to him."

Darren nodded hesitantly and smiled again, before turning to his left and walking towards the oak table in between the couch and the flatscreen TV hung on the wall.

"H-hey, I'm ... I'm Darren Town," Darren muttered after clearing his throat a little. Lucas looked up from his mobile phone that he was currently fiddling with, and smiled the faintest of smiles at Darren. In return Darren pushed out his hand and Lucas shook it lightly. It was clear that Lucas wasn't the most social of boys; it was clear that Lucas and Darren had a lot in common - though Darren did think that a silent drummer was a bit odd.

"He, he did," Darren replied with an awkward laugh. There was quite a long silence as Darren and Lucas occasionally met eyes and smirked slightly, until Diego piped up.

"Hey, Darren, wanna come with me to see the bedroom?"

The hairs on the back of Darren's neck stood up swiftly as he felt Diego come closer. Darren's eyes flicked towards Lucas for a second and Lucas gave back a glance that clearly meant 'yeah, he's like that.'

The three boys walked around the back of the couch and past the smaller matching seat before opening the door leading to the bedroom. Right beside the door there stood a small cabinet with a TV sat on top. To their left was a denim beanbag, of which Darren took note. But the main thing that Darren noticed was that in front of them there sat only two beds - a single and a double. On the matress there lay a note reading, 'I'm sorry boys, but normally this room's for a pair and another. Two will have to share. Thanks, from Ramirez.'

Once again, he felt Diego move closer; but only this time he was almost touching Darren.

Donny ran from the living room, door open, and rocketed into the bedroom before launching himself onto the bed in front of him. As he landed not very softly, he curled up on the bedclothes before sprawling out again and releasing a large breath of air, sounding somewhat like an 'aaahhhhh'. With his right hand he rubbed the bedcover, it felt so smooth and silky; to Donny it truly was a godsend. When he wasn't banging to several decibels on his drums he would most likely be in bed, on the couch or eating.

Ah, yes, food!

He pounced up back onto his feet and strolled through to the kitchen, of which was painted blues, greens and yellows. With a heave he pulled open several cupboards and cabinets and to his pleasure there were complimentary foods and beverages inside the brightest coloured of the cupboards, one to the left of the room and to the right of the cooker. Not only was he pleased by the jars of gums and jam, the cooked sandwich meat and the bottles of milk, but there was a huge baguette laid on its side. Eagerly Donny pulled it out and ran his fingers along it; it was cooked to perfection - golden in colour and crispy in texture, with round edges and perfectly layered crosses-

... what was that?

Donny stood up perfectly straight, his eyes wide and the baguette firmly placed in his hands. He heard footsteps coming from the livingroom, and something being placed heavily upon the floor. He quietly walked towards a second door in the kitchen which lead into the livingroom, and leaned forward to poke his head through. There stood a boy with fair hair, his back turned to Donny and appearing to be facing some bags. Donny didn't recognise him at all. This means ... evasive action!

"Hyaaah!" Donny cried as he jumped into the livingroom his baguette poised at the stranger as if it were some kind of baked jousting stick.

The stranger turned around and lifted up his hands that were almost as high as his eyes were wide at this point.

"Jeeeeeeeez," the boy muttered, "you must be Donny, right?"

Donny loosened his muscles again and laughed a bit. He noticed that though this teenager wasn't short, Donny was quite a bit taller than him. Granted, Donny was taller than most people he met; he was a very tall man. "Yeah, I'm Donny, Donny Gonzales. And you're, eh, Hunter ... ?"

"Eheheh, through there," laughed Donny nervously. He poked his head around the corner as Hunter heaved his bags into the room.

"So ... I'm guessing this bed is yours?" Hunter called through. Donny walked around to see what he meant; and wasn't surprised when he was looking at the bed whose sheets were crumpled and clearly had been jumped upon.

Donny cleared his throat and tried to chuckle a little. "I, er, em, I guess you could say that." He scratched his head as he smiled innocently.

~*~​

Jessica knocked on the door once or twice before entering.

"Mmm, come in!"

She quickly opened the door and let out a relaxed 'aahhhh'. She moved her bag over to the right, beside the radiator, before calling out, "So, is there a miss Flores in here?" Jessy wiped her tired hands on her navy blue shirt with a print of a girl on it before continuing to look around the modern-looking room.

"Oh, I'm just through here!" The first voice called out again, sounding cheery.

Jessica smiled. The voice had come from a door to the north-west, so Jessy walked through towards the door. As she stepped in she saw the owner of the voice; a short-brown-haired girl who was currently wearing black leggings, a blue hoodie and denim short shorts. "Sorry, I'm just trying to figure out how to turn this thing on." She was bending over to look at the side of the oven; by the looks of it ths room was a huge kitchen and dining area. There were two ovens, a huge sink and draining board, a large fridge, overhead cabinets, microwaves and stoves. Jessica's eyes glittered. She loved music with a passion, but her second most loved activity had to be cooking.

She was also pretty good at it.

"Oh hey, I can have a look at it ..." Jessica murmurred. She brushed back her huge bushy hair before bending over and pressing a few buttons in sequence that were located at the top of the side of the oven. The buttons flashed a few times before the oven began to start making a low humming noise and Jessy stood back up straight and clapped her hands together.

Lee heard the door to the apartment open and shut quickly and someone drag bags into the livingroom. After a short pause the bags were then dragged near to the bedroom and the owner of the bags appeared at the door. It was a blonde teenager who stood there, with trendy looking clothes and beautifully tanned, flawless skin. Charlie felt a little silly sitting on the bed in front of her with her over-100-year-old parlour guitar, thick uncooperative hair, countless freckles, Japanese patterned shirts and a triforce necklace. She began to blush and guessed that she looked quite embarassed sat there staring up at this pretty girl.

"Ummm ..." she muttered. "I'm Charlotte - Charlie - Lee, sorry, yeah. You can call me Lee." She smiled a little bit before putting her guitar back on her bed.

"Oh, uh, Cheese Bubbles. I'm the guitarist and lead singer," Lee grinned, feeling quite proud that she could say she played an instrument and sung. She guessed that the other girl could probably sing, too, but-

"Oh, cool!" Emily smiled as she placed her guitar case against the wall beside her. "I do vocals too, sometimes."

"Oh. Awesome," Lee smiled, though inside her heart sunk. "I, um ... are ... a-are you in that band with the white-haired guy?" Lee asked hopefully, her cheeks burning up even more and her eyes sparkling.

"Huh." Lee pouted, pondering as she stared into the distance - otherwise known as the cupboards in the bedroom. "L-Lucas ..."

(ooc: waaaaahhnnnnnggghhhh I didn't know what to do |D Hope this is okay, yep yep ♥
I didn't get to go over this with Dark much but I wanted so post it soooooo baaaaddddddd so here it is. Dark - feel free to spam my PM inbox moaning at me if you don't like it ♥)

‘Oh, uh, Cheese Bubbles.’ Lee said, grinning. ‘I’m the guitarist and lead singer.’ Emily smiled. ‘Oh, cool! I do vocals too, sometimes.’ Emily said. Sometimes being once or twice during practice, but she had made an agreement with the rest of the band that she would become a singer, too, after showing off her voice.

‘…Oh, awesome.’ Lee said, with a slightly odd smile on her lips. ‘Uhm, are you in the band with the white-haired guy?’ Lee asked, her voice a bit strange-sounding.

‘Huh, Lucas…’ Lee said, staring at nothing while Emily unpacked her clothes. She could’ve sworn she heard a tone of admiration.

Lucas and Diego, who were sharing a room with Darren of the Cheese Bubbles, found their room quite easily. Diego, admiring the beauty of the large room, turned to Lucas. ‘If the apartments are like this, I can’t wait to see the lounge!’ He said, gleaming. Lucas nodded in agreement.

‘C’mon, we should unpack our stuff first. Let’s go to the lounge in twenty, leaving us plenty of time.’ Diego said, lifting his rather humongous bag over his shoulder. ‘Would you mind looking if Darren is in the hallway? He should be here soon enough.’

Lucas, putting his bag on the couch, nodded again and went over to the hallway. He had, of course, no idea what Darren was supposed to look like, but there was no other male in the hallway. Turning his head, though, he did find himself facing a girl his age.

A quite attractive one at that.

‘I-, I, uhm, I’m Charlotte- Charlie- Lee.’ The girl said, seemingly embarrassed- What for was a mystery to him- Before putting on an awkward smile, and swiftly stepping into her apartment.

Lucas hated moments like that. His cheeks flushed, as he looked around one more time and stepped inside the apartment again.

‘What happened to you?’ Diego asked, his eyebrows raised, once he saw Lucas, who scratched his ear. ‘I, uhm.’ Lucas started, but just when he was about to explain, a brown-haired teenager of their age entered their new home.

Lucas saw Diego’s eyes widen and gleam, which usually only happened when he spotted a hot male or a lump of chocolate-flavoured nougat, his favourite candy, usually resulting in winking or partially spending day savings.

In this case, it was winking.

‘Welcome, Mr. Town. Or, at least, that’s the name I have written down here.’ Diego said, smiling as he pointed at the direction folder still in his hand. ‘I’m Diego and I play piano- Or keyboard- and do vocals for the Sound Warriors.’

‘I-I’m Darren, yeah, as you know. It’s nice to meet you.’ Darren replied, smiling back, although not quite as jovial. Then again, hardly any other people he knew had such broad smiles as him.

‘Oh, yes, Darren. That’s a pretty cute name. Almost as cute as yourself!’ It basically just slipped out, but hey, it worked. Darren was actually rather attractive.

Darren seemed a bit hestitant all of the sudden, fiddling with the suitcase in his hand, and trying to utter a few words. Giggling slightly, Diego tucked his shirt a bit and turned the spiked, brown leather bracelet- Courtesy to Hunter Moore for the idea- on his wrist.

‘And this is Lucas, our drummer. You should go over and talk to him.’ Diego said, pointing at Lucas over his shoulder. Lucas had started unpacking some of his stuff in the background, his favourite place to be.
Darren nodded, and went over to Lucas.

‘Hey, I’m -I’m Darren Town.’ Darren introduced himself. Lucas, who had been answering a text from his Mom- The typical ‘How are you/Are you having fun?’ deal- Looked up to him, and gave a weak smile before taking his hand and shaking it.

‘He did, he did.’ Darren replied, smiling. Lucas noticed a semi-shared aspect of them both; While Lucas’ white pony hang over his left eye most of the time, despite his attempts every minute or so to whisk it away. Both of Darren’s eyes were mostly hidden by his brown hair, leaving most of the facial expression to his mouth.

‘Hey Darren, wanna come with me to see the bedroom?’ Diego asked, who had picked up his stuff from the couch and wanted to put his stuff away. The unmeant, hidden innuendo appeared to him seconds later- But he was not the type of person to take things back or be embarrassed.
And hey, it worked.

Darren’s eyes went towards Lucas’s, and Lucas gave a glance back to inform Darren of Diego’s sexuality.

All three of them went over to the large bedroom of the appartement. The bedroom was very nice indeed; It had a TV, a nice beanbag and, surprisingly, one double bed and a single.

There was a note on the bed, from Ramirez- Or his assistant, Diego thought. On the note was an apology for the fact that there was one double bed.

Lucas immediately went over to the single bed, putting his bag on it and started unpacking. To Diego, it was Lucas’ way of saying; ‘I love you, bro, but not like that.’

Diego sat down next to Darren on the bed, saying: ‘So, who wants to share the double bed with me?’ Even though he knew the answer, even if it wasn’t really about wanting to, in this case.

After they had unpacked- And Darren had, although reluctantly, agreed with sharing the bed with Diego, after an argument with Lucas- Diego sent all of his band members to come to the lounge in five, and to ask their new roommates if they could come along. Diego knew the lounge had a piano, so he went trough a mental list of piano songs he knew from memory- Which weren’t a lot- And the ones he had in a paper. Choosing one, he went to retrieve it from his bag.

A couple of minutes later, the group had met in the lounge, and were now sitting on a group of beanbags. Having all met each other now, Diego was happy there didn’t seem to be any tensions. Currently, Emily and Charlotte, who preferred being called Lee, were reading out loud from a band magazine and giggling like… Well, teenage girls. Only Lucas noticed how Lee’s gaze would be aimed at him every thirty seconds or more.

‘Oh, here, this looks fun. Ask your fellow band members to tell each other like which famous singer their voice sounds.’ Emily said. ‘Okay, Diego, who do you think my voice sounds like?’

Diego looked at the ceiling, made of wooden planks with integrated large, round lamps. ‘Like a combination of Adele and Caro Emerald, with a bit of Yoko Hikasa in it, only younger.’ Emily raised a eyebrow. ‘Yoko Hikasa?’ She asked.

Diego pretended to be shocked. ‘Mio Akiyama’s singing actress! How could you even not know that?’ He said, then broke into a smile. ‘Okay, how about my voice?’ He asked no one in particular.

‘Pft. Somewhere inbetween Robin Williams and the lead singer of Train… Mona-something?’ Emily answered. ‘There’s also a bit of James Marsden in there.’ Hunter replied, out of nowhere. Diego’s eyes glinted. ‘Why, thank you for acknowledging, Hunter.’ Hunter rolled his eyes.

‘Lucas sounds like the lovebaby of Irwin Sparkes and Jamie Cullum, y’know.’ Diego said, pulling his line out of hammerspace as well. People’d expect it from him.

This news even cut off Emily’s giggle. ‘Lucas can sing?’ She asked, her eyes flickering to Lucas, who shifted a little bit as his cheeks became a darker hue of red. ‘I mean, no offense, but I didn’t expect it from a drummer…’ ‘…Especially one who hardly even talks? Well, I’m going to shove him behind a microphone at least once, because he’s excellent at Please Don’t Stop The Music. The one by his love-dad.’ Diego said, grinning. Lucas was trying desperately to blend in with the beanbag chair like an oversized chameleon.

‘You know what, we should ask Ramirez if we can have our band practice in the same room. We should do a song together once.’ Emily said, her eyes suddenly bright.

‘But what song can we play?’ Ruby asked. Diego stood up, reaching for the papers in his back pocket. ‘Well, you can decide on that while I go play a little jazz.’ Diego said, making his way over to the lounge piano.

Luckily for them - and probably for the other bands, too - Technically Numb stayed in their own room without any people from other bands. Well, that was discluding Sonny Peserville who had decided that she must be a step up from the rest and she demanded her parents pay for her own apartment, just for her. This seemed like a great idea; they could just buy any apartment for their little angel and she'd be as happy as a certain 13 year old girl on a Friday.

But no.

Right to Shine and Ramirez Records, together, had rented out most of the apartments in that hotel - or at least most of the good ones. The only ones left were the ones for people who would plan to only stay one or two nights; the smaller, less fancy ones. Sure they weren't as glamorous or luxourious as the other ones, but Sonny just had to be special. And so she was.

Her room was alright, really; it had a reasonably sized television, a couch and a matching seat, a small bedroom linked to an even smaller kitchen and a very shiny toilet. She had flung her bags - which were obviously full of clothes and others things that Sonny deemed necessary but clearly weren't - in her bedroom and left them there for a while. It looked as if she had hardly touched the kitchen, but the lounge, bedroom and toilet were full of her miscellanious junk. Sure, there was an obvious difference, but it looked impeccably tidy all the same.

The same was not to be said for the boys' room.

They had pretty much messed up the entire appartment. Their instruments were just lain wherever they were last used, their plates and cups already scattered around, and their clothes and other possessions strewn wherever there was space. And really, there was quite a lot of space. There were actually two seperate bedrooms for once, with two beds in each. And luckily for their neighbours, the walls were quite thick so they could practice and be as loud as they wish. Which was very loud.

~*~​

Even though Lee had been a little bit iffy about this Emily girl to start with, within 10 minutes they were squeeling and giggling together insanely. They shared many tastes, but it seemed Emily was more downright girly and fashionable than Lee who was a tad more tomboy (when she wasn't squeaking and fangirling) and casual. Nevertheless they got on like a wild fire and found themselves giggling maniacally together on one of the lounge sofas just twenty minutes after they had met. Though Lee's eyes were firmly planted on Emily and their magazine for the most part, every now and again she couldn't help but gaze over to Lucas dreamily. They hadn't even met properly, they hadn't ever had a single real conversation, and still Lee couldn't take her eyes off of him.

She also occasionally peered over to Darren, who was sitting beside Diego, seemingly slightly uncomfortable. She giggled at him and he shot some piercing looks her way, but she could tell that he wasn't genuinely furious. It wasn't as if it was strange for him to look like this, he hardly ever had a smile upon his chin anyways. Lee had managed to utter a small sentence or two and a wave to the rest of the Sound Warriors as well, who all seemed pretty nice. Diego definitely seemed very upbeat and cheerful, though Hunter was a little bit strange. He was ever so slightly similar to Darren only it seemed he was more sarcastic and slightly more outgoing than Darren. He definitely spoke his mind more, at least.

Ruby seemed really nice as well, and it looked like her and Jessica were getting on well enough. They contributed to the group discussion regularly and even whispered to each other every so often, usually followed by a string of giggles. Jessic was very pleased with the group she was in, and she hoped that she had made a good enough impression in the short hello's that they uttered to start the conversation. Donny was contributing well to the chat and was getting everyone to laugh routinely, and though it seemed he was one of the older members of the two bands it didn't look like he was sticking out too much. Although, his short mohawk might have been.

"Oh, here, this looks fun," Emily said as she stroked her finger across the page of magazine in front of her. Lee read the sentence she was pointing to and giggled, before peering over at Diego in a rather jokey 'just-you-wait-and-see-this' sort of way. "Ask your fellow band members to tell each other like which famous singer their voice sounds. Okay, Diego, who do you think my voice sounds like?"

Diego grinned and stared up at the ceiling in a thoughtful way. After a while his chin fell back down and he answered, "Like a combination of Adele and Caro Emerald, with a bit of Yoko Hikasa in it, only younger." This made Lee laugh and Jessica giggle considerably. It was safe to say that Darren smiled a little bit, too. Donny looked a little bit clueless on the last name, though, and apparently Emily was too as she questioned this. Lee chuckled again as Diego answered, almost as if it were obvious - and it was sort of to him, Lee, Jessica and Darren. The only reason Darren knew was because Lee had almost forced him to sit down and watch a few episodes of K-On with her, and admittedly, it wasn't bad.

Emily replied to Diego after he had asked about his voice, and Hunter threw in his two cents as well. Out of nowhere Diego brought up the subject of Lucas' voice, and Lee's eyes positively shimmered with interest. She couldn't help but gasp when Diego said the two names; which were Irwin Sparkes and Jamie Cullum. "I-Irwin Sparkes? I love The Hoosiers!" she suddenly called out excitedly, almost stretching over to the boys' group as she did so. It was true that she was a huge fan of that band, as well as many others. She couldn't help but giggle as the rest of the Sound Warriors squabbled over Lucas and his face quickly flushed bright red.

"I thiiiiink ..." Lee started, looking over to Darren and grinning, "that Darren sounds a bit like ... Damian Kulash, but lower." She smiled again and Darren blushed - not as deep red as Lucas, but his cheeks did turn a little pink.

"I do not," Darren muttered, stuttering a little, "and when do I ever sing? I bet you've only heard me sing, like, twice."

Lee stuck her tongue out in a playful way before Emily said with a glimmer in her eyes, "You know what, we should ask Ramirez if we can have our band practice in the same room." Everyone seemed to nod and look interested, especially Diego. "We should do a song together once."

"Yeah, I’d love to hear what you guys sound like," Diego burst out, grinning. Darren smirked and Donny chuckled, but as Jessica and Lee's eyes locked they already began planning it out in their heads. Ruby stated, "but what song can we play?" Lee nodded in agreement with Ruby, but before anyone said anything else Diego was already almost pouncing upon the piano in the corner of the room. He whipped sheet music from his back pocket and suggested that his friends discuss which song they would play before he began to play away at the piano.

It took her a while to get it, but Lee's eyes shimmered in recognition. She hadn't expected anyone else here to play Touhou, but the song that Diego was playing was clearly one of Sakuya's themes; namely her Touhou 6 one. Watching Diego's fingers sprawl across the piano artistically was somewhat soothing; after listening just to the first part of this song Lee was sure that Diego was quite an extraordinary pianist. Jessica, too, was watching Diego in admiration. She knew that she was better at playing piano than lots of people she knew, but Diego was masterful. Jessica may be able to play something of the same calibur as this song but she couldn't help but admire Diego for his work. Even though Diego's 'performance' in their hotel room had pretty much creeped out Darren, he too watched Diego with a keen eye. Even Donny, who wasn't usually into music like this, couldn't help but tap the beat on his thighs.

"I think we should do something that involves most of us, if not all of us," Lee spoke out, finally looking away from the spot in which the piano sat. "Maybe something slow and pretty?"

"All I know is that I'm not singing," Darren murmured.

"Yeah, we could probably do something with multiple instruments," Jessica agreed with Lee, but only after giggling at Darren. She continued, "and if it has a violin then I can do it so that Diego can flaunt his crazy piano skills more." Donny called with a grin, "And something with a good drumline!"

Lucas smirked a rather relieved smirk. "At least then I won't have to show off," he muttered. Lee's eyes widened. So that's what he sounds like! she thought. He has a beautiful voice even when he's just talking ...

Without realizing it, Lee had begun almost drooling over Lucas. Emily giggled and nudged her new friend before replying to Lucas, "Nuh uh! It just gives all the more reason for you to sing for us!" Lee giggled at that comment too, and Lucas blushed considerably and turned his head away from the girls. Clearing her throat, Emily continued, "Seeing as I'm guessing Darren will be doing bass for us -" Darren coughed and began to fidget, "- I can do harmonies if it'd set the mood. Harmonising with Lucas would be fun," she added with a giggle.

"I, uh, I'd be up for singing!" Lee burst out without really meaning to after the second mention of Lucas singing. She couldn't have helped it. She barely even knew the boy and yet her subconsious was already deciding that she wanted to sing with him? It must really be love, her mind echoed without her permission. "If it's a slow song and it can have two voices, that is ..." again she said this without realizing what her mouth was doing.

"You guys are pretty much describing A Sadness Runs Through Him, you know," Darren muttered before sighing and moving positions in his seat.

The room fell silent.

Lee pounced up and it seemed as if her ears perked up at the same time. She looked at Darren in amazement, almost gasping really loudly, but she just squeeled, "Yeeessssssss. Yes yes yeeessss~! We should do A Sadness Runs Through Him! What do you think, Emily?" she turned quickly to her new buddy and grinned. Emily giggled and said confusedly, "I don't think I've ever heard of that?" Lee sighed and shook her head in a sort of mock-disappointed way. "It's The Hoosiers! Irwin Sparkes? Goodbye Mr A?" Emily gave Lee a blank expression before laughing and Lee desperately turned to Lucas and burbled, "L-Lucas, you know what I'm talking about, right?"

Lucas looked a little surprised that Lee had asked him. He stuttered a little and opened his mouth once or twice just for no words to come out. Lee's expression was looking more desperate and more desperate by the second, and eventually Lucas replied, "Yeah, I-I ... I like that song, I guess ..."

With a flourish, Diego rose from the piano seat and smiled. "That song sounds fun," he said, "but before we discuss every single note of the song we should probably break our rooms in some more."

"I dunno about everyone else," Donny replied, "but it's been quite a tiring afternoon already. I personally think going upstairs would be a great chance to eat something!" Darren leaned over to Donny and punched him lightly on the shoulder. Donny wasn't fat by any means; he was heavier built than the rest of their band, sure - but he did enjoy his food. Darren was one who hardly ate, but when Donny brought the subject of food up it had to be said that he did feel his stomach quake with emptiness. After nudging his bandmate he stretched his back a little and groaned. His legs were starting to go slightly numb after sitting in here for a while.

"I think I'm up for some food, too," Ruby said with a grin. Everyone else nodded and replied in agreement, along with some mutters and comments to the person they were sitting next too, and with that they all heaved themselves back up to their hotel rooms.

~*~​

Lee flung herself into her bed. "Well, that spot of socialising was fun, don'tcha think?" she asked of no one in particular, though Emily was the only other person in the room. Emily laughed and sat on the end of her bed, beside Lee's.

"I just wish we had beanbags in here, really," she replied with a smile. Lee's head was currently hanging off of her bed upside-down, but even then Emily's smile looked like that of a supermodel. She wondered if anyone had ever told her that she looked like a supermodel, that she could be a supermodel, and eventually asked her out loud. "Um, not really? I guess some guys flirt with me, but ..."

Lee flipped over in her bed. She wasn't the type who could sit still for a very long period of time, and that was shown to be obvious if you had ever sat in the same room with her for a while. Just seconds after her random flip she sat up, back facing Emily, and scrambled inside her suitcase for her mobile phone. Within a few seconds she had pulled it out and began to type furiously on the tiny qwerty keyboard. She was texting Darren, Donny and Jessica querying if they thought that Emily could be a supermodel. Lee had always been quite loud and unafraid to ask what she wanted to, so things like this weren't unusual for her.

'Heyup, lads!' her fingers typed quickly as her tongue stuck out from her mouth, 'Just thinking; do you think Emily could be a supermodel? I ttly think she could. (ps: dying for some beanbags heeerrreeee.) ~Luffles, Lee ♥'

"Oh!" Lee called out as she spun around to face Emily once again, "I'm guessing you have a mobile phone? Can I get your number so we can chat when we're not, you know, in the same room together?"

-----​

As soon as Donny stepped foot inside his and Hunter's appartment he had already started to make his way to the kitchen. Hunter sighed a little bit as he followed much more slowly in his footsteps and stretched a little as he did so. Donny beamed as he found his huge baguette sitting in the exact same place as he left it, seemingly just waiting to have meat thrown inside it and cut up and eaten. Well, if it was lucky it would be cut up.

Donny strode over to the fridge and pulled it open. In one of the smaller pull-out compartments he found a packet of spiced ham with a crumbed edge - normally this would please him, but he had hoped that there would be chicken somewhere. He made a mental note to go shopping tomorrow. With a sigh he yanked the cold meat out of the fridge and shut the fridge door quickly. He began slapping the slices of meat onto the baguette with a little bit of a pout on his face before calling, "Hey, Hunter, d'you want some of this?"

What Donny hadn't noticed was that Hunter had already silently crept his way into the room. He was on his tip toes looking into the westernmost shelf. "I'll have a little bit, thanks," he spoke plainly, with far less enthusiasm than Donny would possess.

With a concentrated expression upon his face, Donny carefully sliced down the middle of the baguette. He swished the knife in the air a little bit afterwards, trying to act masterful and skilled - but instead he ended up almost chopping one or two of his fingers off. He picked up a peice of baguette in each hand and handed one to Hunter.

Hunter sniffed.

"I, uh, I'm not that hungry," he muttered, but he took the half anyway. "Do you mind if I cut this in half again?" Donny nodded speechlessly as he fumbled with his slice. Would Hunter see it as greedy if Donny ate that whole half instead of just a quarter like Hunter? He stared down at the baguette in his hands. He truly was aching for some food. Finally he decided that he may as well eat the whole half, and with the hand that didn't hold the peice he was eating he shoved the remaining quarter of the baguette into the fridge, for the next faithful day in which he ventured inside.

-----​

Jessica tapped at the buttons on her phone. 'I guess she could be a supermodel! She's certainly pretty and she has the build for it. I'm aching for a beanbag or two as well! Text you later ' she typed quickly. She was sat upon the kitchen worktop, her legs dangling over the edge and kicking out in rythm with each other. "Ruby!" she called through happily.

"Yeah?" Ruby answered as she entered the room. She had poured herself some hot chocolate when they had entered their appartment again and she carried the mug through with her from the lounge area. Chocolate powder and milk had been two of the few things that they had stumbled upon inside the cabinets; it seemed that the Ramirez company hadn't yet delivered all of their food.

"I was wondering," Jessy said with quite a cheerful tone to her voice, "seeing as we only have eggs, sugar, icing sugar, milk ... and some other stuff, would you mind waiting a while and I'll make something for early dinner?"

Ruby smiled curiously at Jessica and eventually shrugged as she cleaned out her mug. "Sure, why not?" she giggled. Jessica jumped down from the tabletop and wiped it off with a strip of kitchen paper before proceeding. She reached up to the top drawer in the cabinet above her and pulled out the big bag of sugar. Delving into the fridge she pulled out three eggs and some cream and then grabbed a large clear bowl out of the cupboard.

"Looks like I have what I need," Jessy sang as she proceeded to pull out the electric hand whisker and a sieve. Ruby stepped forward to stand beside Jessy and she looked bemusedly at what she was doing. Jessy had began cracking open the eggs into her hands and holding the yolks, moving around her hands to get all of the egg white into the bowl. "What in the world are you making?" Ruby questioned.

"Oh, you'll see!" Jessica answered as she washed the remaining egg bits and peices out of her hands. She plugged in the electric and whisker and whisked the egg whites as hard as she could. She chatted to Ruby over the bowl about anything and everything over the past few minutes, and by then the egg whites had turned into a soft and fluffy texture and the peaks stood up when Jessy raised the whisk. A spoonful at a time she added the sugar as she turned the speed on her whisk up. After beating for a few more minutes, she turned the whisk off. "'Kay, lemme check this ..." she muttered as she took the bowl in two hands. Slowly, she lifted it above her head, with the mixture still inside.

"Wh-" Ruby said through giggles, "what are y-you do-doing?" She couldn't stop laughing as Jessica raised the bowl higher and higher above her cranium. Eventually it was right on top of her head, and she grinned. Ruby stopped laughing for a moment, just to grin at Jessica - but soon enough she burst out with giggles again.

"It's a test!" Jessica grinned. "If the mixture doesn't fall when you hold it up, it's ready." Ruby laughed again. It was quite astounding that the seemingly light and fluffy mixture didn't obey gravity and instead stayed up there in the bowl. Jessica continued to whisk it like mad, but it seemed that there was technique in it too. Not only was she talented in music, but she had a thing for cooking as well. When she was younger she always helped her mother with making the dinner, whether it was something fancy or just things like pasta and potatoes. Ruby, too, was fond of food as when she moved to New York with her father they opened an Italian restaurant. While she was beating away, Jessica asked Ruby, "so, what do you play in your band?"

"Oh, I play harmonizing guitar," Ruby said with a smile. "and sometimes I do backup vocals, y'know. What do you do?"

"A little bit of everything," Jessica joked happily, "but mainly piano or keyboard. I can play a little guitar and I've been playing violin and saxophone for as long as the piano, too. I guess you could say I'm, uh, multi-talented? I do backing vocals, too, but I can't sing solos for the life of me." Ruby giggled a little bit, which led Jessica to continue; "No, seriously! If you put me in front of a microphone by myself you'd better bring earmuffs with you."

Jessica laughed. "I dunno about Darren, if I'm honest," she smiled as her eyes swivelled back to the mixture she was beating, "seeing as I've never heard him sing, really. But ... but he's probably alright."

-----​

Darren's fingers glided smoothly over the neck of his bass guitar. Open, four, two-two, open, two, four, two, open-two~! The minute he had stepped in the door of his appartment he had picked up his bass and started playing The Beatles' Day Tripper. It was one of his favourite guitar lines, and it was almost as if his fingers were made to be able to play it; as they plucked effortlessly on the strings in perfect time. He was pretty good on the bass, but he was exceptional at playing Day Tripper.

His smooth tune was interrupted only by the chime from his mobile phone. He grabbed it out of his pocket and looked at the text he had recieved - unsurprisingly from Lee. He text back, 'I dunno. you do know that's sort of creepy, right? you hardly even know her and you're calling her a supermodel. also, we have two beanbags in this appartment. lucky us '. Quickly he placed his mobile back into his pocket and got back to his bass playing.

"Shall I put the dinner on?" Diego called through from the kitchen. He had just found four packs of microwavable meals in the fridge; three of which he planned to cook for his and his flatmates' dinners. With a smile he pulled them out of the cold storage system and placed them on the kitchen worktop.

"Isn't it a little early to be putting on our dinners?" Lucas questioned. He was sat on a seat near Darren in the living room, reading a book of some sorts.

"Yeah, but we have a big day up ahead!" Diego moaned a little. "We're going to get the theme lists for the show, right?"

‘I think… That Darren sounds a bit like Damian Kulash, but lower.’ Lee said, grinning at her friend and fellow band member. ‘I do not. And when do I ever sing?’ Darren retorted, slightly uncomfortable. It seemed that he, much like Lucas, didn’t like acknowledgement of talent. ‘I bet you’ve only heard me sing, like, twice.’

Diego enjoyed the sound of the large piano wing, and the acoustics of the room. He noticed several other people eyeing him, curious. Most people had never even heard of the franchise this song was from, despite the high quality of the music, from death metal to classic piano. He was a lover of anime-themed music, especially such bands as K-On and Girls Dead Monster.

‘I think we should do something that involves most of us, if not all of us. Maybe something slow, and pretty?’ Lee said, turning to face her new clique again. ‘All I know, is that I’m not singing.’ Darren muttered. Jessica giggled at Darren’s sullen and uncomfortable expression, before adding; ‘Yeah, we could probably do something with multiple instruments. And if it has a violin, then I can do it so that Diego can flaunt his crazy piano skills more.’ ‘And something with a good drum line!’ Donny, by far the tallest member of the group, called out excitedly.

Lucas smiled at the ideas being called out. ‘At least then I won’t have to show off.’ He said, in his usual
soft voice. He caught a flash of Lee’s odd, wide-eyed facial expression before Emily poked her with her elbow. ‘Nuh-uh, it just gives all the more reason for you to sing for us!’ Emily said, giggling, and Lucas blushed a bit before turning his head towards Diego, who was still hammering away some smooth jazz on the piano wing, as a way of taking cover.

Emily cleared her troath. ‘Seeing as I’m guessing Darren-‘ She beckoned at the long-haired bassist. ‘-will be doing bass for us, I can do harmonies, if it’d set the mood. Harmonising with Lucas would be fun.’ Emily was always one to try and take a bit of control, and she liked planning this already- Even though the idea was only a few minutes old and they didn’t even have a song set.

‘I, uhm, I’d be up for singing!’ Lee blurted out, quite randomly but enthiousastically nonetheless. ‘If it’s a slow song, and it can have two voices, that is…’ She continued, falling silent.

‘You guys are pretty much describing A Sadness Runs Trough Him, you know.’ Darren said, moving about in his beanbag chair and letting out a sigh. There was a short silence between all the partakers of the conversation.

‘Yesssssss! Yes, yes, yessssss!’ Lee burst out again. ‘We should do A Sadness Runs Trough Him! What do you think, Emily?’ She continued, facing Emily with a gleeful expression. Emily let out a giggle and said; ‘I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that.’ Lee shook her head and sighed. ‘It’s The Hoosiers! Irwin Sparkes? Goodbye, Mr. A?’ Emily gave her a blank expression before laughing at Lee’s overly excited and now slightly disappointed face.

‘Lucas, you know what I’m talking about, right?’ Lee said, with a slight stutter, as she turned to Lucas. Lucas blinked in surprise. He knew the song alright, as he knew most of the songs by The Hoosiers- He was quite the fan of them. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He tried again, same thing.

Lee was looking desperate by now. ‘Y-yeah, I… I like that song, I guess.’ He managed to say. There was something about Lee that… Did something to him.

Right at that moment, though, Diego ended his piano piece and stood up. ‘That song sounds fun. But before we discuss every single note of the song, we should probably break our rooms in some more.’ Diego was feeling the slightest bit hungry, and apart from that, he had to go and get his stuff for dance class in an hour or two.

Donny agreed with him. ‘I don’t know about everyone else, but it’s been quite a tiring afternoon already. I personally think going upstairs would be a great chance to eat something!’ He was playfully bumped in the shoulder by Darren, who stood up and stretched a little.

‘I think I’m up for some food, too.’ Ruby said. The others agreed and nodded, and with an excited mumble they all stood up and headed to their quearters.

Hunter was right behind Donny when they walked back into their apartment. Hunter stretched his arms a little and let out a sigh, while Donny went right back to the kitchen. He went into the kitchen along with Donny, who didn’t seem to notice it, and looked at one of the shelves to try and find anything vaguely resembling crisps. ‘Hey, Hunter, do you want some of this?’ Donny asked loudly, fidgeting with the large former weapon and a few slices of ham.

‘I’ll have a little bit, thanks.’ Hunter simply replied, still looking for the crisps. There were none on the shelf, maybe in one of the the kitchen cupboards?

He turned around to see Donny cutting the bread in perfect halves, or attempting to do so. He rejoiced at his success and threw the knife up in the air a bit and barely catching it properly, a millimeter away from cutting his own fingers. He handed half of the ham sandwich to Hunter.

‘I, uhm, I’m not that hungry.’ Hunter said, sniffing. He took the half out of Donny’s hand anyway, and after asking Donny if he’d mind, he cut it in half again- he wasn’t actually very hungry, so it’d be a waste of bread to take it all.

Donny seemed hestitant about something for a while, but soon after, he put the remaining loaf of the bread in the fridge and followed Hunter back into the living room, where Hunter had just powered up the TV.

Lee jumped onto her bed the moment they reached the bedroom, planning to unpack the rest of their bags. ‘Well, that spot of socializing was fun, don’t you think?’ Emily laughed, sitting down on her own bed. ‘I just wish we had beanbags here, really.’ Emily answered. She had tried the living room chairs, and they weren’t that comfortable compared to what she was used to.

Out of nowhere, while hanging upside down from her bed (It appeared to Emily Lee was full of little
shenanigans and childishness- Which actually looked fitting on her.) Lee asked if Emily thought she could be a supermodel. Emily’s memory flashed back to all those nights standing in front of the mirror with a measuring tape around her waist. She’d always been health-consious, but she was taking it easy right now.

‘Uhm, not really?’ Emily was quite happy with herself- But a supermodel? She didn’t exactly have a Heidi Klum figure. ‘I guess some guys flirt with me, but…’ Apparently, that answer was good enough for Lee, although she didn’t say anything. Instead, she rummaged trough her bag, until she pulled out a cellphone, artistically decorated with glittery Japanese and Western figures and stickers.

Emily decided to unpack some more of her bag, while she heard Lee typing rapidly. If anything, she had a fast finger coordination- Which was quite logical, as she was a guitarist. ‘Oh!’ Lee called out, turning around to face Emily again.

‘I’m guessing you have a mobile phone?’ Lee said, apparently oblivious of the fact Emily was a modern teenager. ‘Can I get your number, so we can chat when we’re, y’know, not in the same room together?’
Emily blinked a little, but didn’t hesitate as she pulled out her own phone- a bright purple LG Cookie- And told Lee her number, after which she gave her hers. It couldn’t hurt, could it?

Ruby, having just poured herself some hot chocolate for the heck of it- And because she loved everything even slightly chocolate-related- Heard some clicking noises coming from the kitchen, like Jessica was typing something on her phone. She turned the TV on, on a low volume in case Jessica was about to call someone, but Jessica called her from the kitchen.

‘I was wondering; Seeing as we only have eggs, sugar, icing sugar, milk and some other stuff, would you mind waiting for a while, and I’ll make something for early dinner?’ Jessica said, seated on top of the kitchen counter between the sink and cooking plate.

Ruby smiled as she went over to the sink to clean out her mug, and shrugged. ‘Sure, why not?’ She
replied. Jessica hopped of the counter and cleaned it with a large piece of paper kitchen towel. She took some stuff out of the cabinets and fridge- eggs, sugar, milk- While Ruby watched. She realized she’d been lucky to be put with Jessica; Not only did she have a friendly personality, they both shared a love for cooking, though Ruby was probably more Italian-based.

‘Looks like I have what I need!’ Jessica said with a musical tone in her voice, placing all the ingredients on the kitchen counter, along with a large bowl. Ruby moved in closer next to Jessica to have a better view of her actions, as Jessica cracked open the three eggs, pouring only the egg white in the bowl.

‘What in the world are you making?’ Ruby asked. There was no yeast or flower among the ingredients, nor salt, so she couldn’t be making some sort of bread or cake. ‘Oh, you’ll see!’ Jessica simply replied, plugging some electronic whiskers in and whisking the egg white for a couple of minutes.

‘Kay, let me check this.’ Jessica said, removing the whisk from the stirred egg white. She grabbed the bowl at both sides, turned it upside down and slowly lifted it, until it was over her head.

At the sight of this, Ruby couldn’t help but burst out into maniacal giggling. ‘W-what are you d-doing?’ She managed to say, between her giggles. She had never seen anything like this. ‘It’s a test! If the mixture doesn’t fall when you hold it up, it’s ready.’ Jessica answered, smiling. This explanation didn’t stop Ruby’s laughter.

Jessica started whisking the mixture again, while asking Ruby; ‘So, what do you play in your
band?’ ‘Oh, I play harmonizing guitar, and sometimes I do back-up vocals, you know.’ Ruby replied, still a bit giggly. ‘What do you do?’ She asked in return.

‘A little bit of everything, but mainly piano or keyboard.’ Jessica answered. ‘I can play a little guitar, and I’ve been playing violin and saxophone for as long as the piano, too.’ She continued. ‘I guess you could say I’m, uhm, multi-talented?’ She said, giggling.

‘I do backing vocals too, but I can’t sing solo’s for the life of me.’ Jessica said. Ruby giggled, not really believing her. Her voice sounded like she’d be an okay singer. ‘No, seriously! If you put me in front of a microphone by myself, you’d better bring earmuffs with you.’ Jessica continued, laughing.

Diego listened to the deep tones of Diego’s bass, coming from the living room, as he rummaged trough the kitchen cabinets, looking for some easy to prepare food. He didn’t recognize the tune, but he was impressed- Diego was about as good at playing the guitar as he was at juggling burning chainsaws. As a pianist, it just didn’t make any sense to him. But he could see why people liked guitar and bass.
The smooth bass tune was interrupted by the sound of a phone alert and some clicking afterwards. Right at that moment, Diego found four packets of microwave meals. Perhaps not the healthiest thing ever, but he needed to eat something before cycling off to dance class.

‘Shall I put the dinner on?’ He called out towards the living room. ‘Isn’t it a little early to put on our dinners?’ Lucas replied. ‘Yeah, but we have a big day up ahead. We’re going to get the theme lists for the show, right?’

‘That’s what I heard as well, yeah.’ Darren said, finishing up his bass tune and putting the bass down on the seat carefully.

‘So, three Mac ‘n Cheese it is?’ Diego said.

Later that day, around sunset, Diego and Emily cycled off to the dance studio Diego took lessons. Out of nowhere, Diego had asked Emily if she wanted to come along and Emily, who still had some feelings for Diego even after seeing some lesser sides of him- Such as a tendency to be a control freak, excessive flamboyance and a general lack of shame- had gladly accepted.

The wind ruffled through Emily’s hair and the flaps of her leather vest that was not exactly fulfilling the purpose of keeping her warm, even with the addition of red gloves. Diego, wearing a leather vest as well- although of a darker, ebony colour- didn’t seem to be cold at all, even though his vest’s zipper was open.

The usual traffic jam was happening in the streets of New York, and the cyclists swerved around the cars every so carefully. Slung around Diego’s shoulder was a blue, semi-transparent bag with some simple clothes and what looked like a pair of plain dancing shoes.
It appeared to Emily that Diego was a real New Yorker; He maneuvered trough the people like he’d never done anything else, and despite the fact the A of this A to B journey had shifted location, he never even hesitated or stopped to think. To Emily, it all seemed like a big chaotic flurry of light, cars, pedestrians and streets- But there was obviously some kind of method to the madness, one that Emily had yet to find.

Diego had told Emily the dance studio was located in a large, unused warehouse that had been
remodeled- ‘And they fixed the heating after a few minor cases of hypothermia, so that was cool.’- Near the outskirts of Manhattan. As they got closer, Emily could definitely see the differences between the main streets of New York and the ‘hood’, although Diego, apparently capable of reading minds, assured Emily it was quite safe around here, provided you kept a low profile.

Upon arriving at the dance studio, Emily, as directed, went over to the large dancing hall. A couple of girls of around Emily’s age were setting up a boombox and some speakers, and glanced at her- Some with looks of jealousy at her overly fancy clothes, and some with plain curiosity. She couldn’t help but feel slightly uncomfortable as she sat down on one of worn, wooden benches.

The rest of the dance crew entered a few minutes later, along with a black-haired, lean man who looked to be in his late twenties, obviously the teacher. Diego, in a conversation with some of the other male dancers in the same outfit, winked at Emily.

The teacher snapped his fingers, and the noise died. ‘Alright, people, let’s do some warming up and stretching, and then we can continue on Ghost’s N Stuff.’

Emily waited for Diego in the hallway, where adds for long forgotten parties, brand new sporting gear and magazines littered the walls. The smell wasn’t too great, either.

‘So, did you like it?’ Diego said, as they walked to their bikes. Emily shivered a little; Being born and raised in Florida, she wasn’t too good with cold. ‘How did you manage to stretch like that?’ Emily blurted out, recalling Diego’s surprising elasticity.

‘Lots of practice.’

The next morning, Emily got a text from Diego. Hey, sunshine, had a nice nap? Meet us at the canteen<3

Emily, applying her mascara while reading the text, sighed. This was going to be tougher then she’d expected. She desperately hoped the canteen had some high-caffeine drinks avaible.

Lee had left the room a couple of minutes earlier, because she’d been out of bed before Emily was even awake. But Emily, with a reputation of being late a lot, had some experience in speeding up her morning ritual.

Emily left the room, making sure to lock it with the keys they’d found on one of the drawers, and strolled trough hallway towards the canteen, where her fellow band members and new friends were apparently waiting for her. Emily recalled that today was the day they would get the theme for the first live show, which was in a week or two- She didn’t remember exactly when.

The halls were packed in comparison to the day before; Emily saw a lot of people making their way
into the canteen. Most of them were around seventeen/sixteen, as this was supposed to be a teenage/young adult competition.

As expected, the canteen was pretty much full. Seeing as the competition had only just started, there were twenty bands with an average of five members. Every bean bag, at the very least, was taken, and so were most of the tables. Some bands read magazines, others were chatting nervously but enthiousastically.

Emily heard a sharp whistle and looked around, finally spotting her band mates and friends at one of the tables. Diego waved happily at her, and Emily made her way over.

‘Sorry, all the beanbags were taken.’ Diego said, handing Emily a chocolate muffin. ‘The breakfast here is better than I expected!’ He continued, munching on a brownie himself. Lee’d already greeted Emily this morning, of course, and the rest winked and nodded at her. The table was littered with wrapping papers for the sandwiches, muffins, brownies and other baked goods along with a variety of bottles containing everything from orange juice- Hunter’s drink of choice- To Lucas’s small bottle of milk and
Diego’s Coca Cola (Emily didn’t like the sound of a Diego on caffeine.).

Emily thanked him and started eating the muffin. Everyone was chatting about something, except Lucas, who was quietly enjoying a salmon sandwich. Jessica and Ruby were giggling over something (Emily could pick up the word ‘gravity’), Diego and Hunter were discussing the latest episode of Glee- Although it seemed Hunter wasn’t partaking in the conversation out of free will- And Darren and Lee were talking about the best colours for any string instrument. It all seemed quite random, but that was to be expected in a group of young teenagers.

On or about ten minutes later, a muted alarm tone went off. Diego took his cell phone out of his pocket and silenced the ringtone. ‘Looks like it’s time for the theme lists, guys.’ He was litteraly the first one to stand up; No one in the room seemed to pay any attention to the time.

Diego seemed confused at the lack of enthousiasm his friends were displaying. ‘…What, we’ve only just entered this competition and we’re already practicing being fashionably late?’

‘No, you’re just a time whore.’ Hunter replied, finishing his drink.

All the bands had gathered together on the large Right To Shine stage, still littered with steel constructions for the workers who were finishing up. At the dead centre of the attention was Ramirez and his assistant, the latter one dishing out the theme list to the bands while the first one looked and occasionally gave a satisfactory nod to the reactions of the bands.

Diego nearly ripped the paper taking it out the assistant’s hand. His bandmates gathered around him, as he read the message out loud.

Dear contestants of Right To Shine,
Out of several dozen bands who auditioned for this brand new TV show, bound to be the TV hit of the season, twenty of you were selected. Over the next three months, eighteen of you will be eliminated- Two every round, based on the votes of the viewers from all over the United States. In twelve days, on October the 17th, the first live show will take place.

Every band gets to pick one song to perform, with a maximum length of nine minutes. Costumes are allowed, and there is a special set of background pane decorations of which you can pick one for during your song.

Since this is the first live show, you can pick any song of your liking from any genre. If you are in need of any additional stage attributes, such as costumes or a piano, address the stage department located near the lounge.

During all of the life shows, your performance will be rated by a jury that I am in as well. The rest of the jury council will be revealed at the first life show.

Remember what’s at stake- A record deal at the studio of yours truly, Ramirez Records, and a life of fame. But, more importantly; Have fun!
-Rodriquez Ramirez

‘Free for all…’ Diego said, dreamily. ‘I hadn’t expected a free-for-all in the very first round…’ Hunter said, scratching his chin. ‘…But I guess it works. We’ll have to brainstorm.’
For the first time, Emily fully realized that they were going to perform on an actual stage, in an actual show, watched by millions of people. It was a scary, and yet strangely motivational and energizing thought. Emily wasn’t normally the type to be nervous- But she couldn’t help but feel the slightest odd feeling in her stomach, of which she was sure it would become more and more apparent over the course of days.

Lee and the rest of her band, who looked pretty excited as well, turned to face the Sound Warriors. ‘We can pick any song we like! Isn’t that awesome?’ Her eyes sparkled, and Emily couldn’t help but smile.

Lee's eyes shot open. She twisted around in her bed so her back lay flat against the matress. The matress was a little bit hard for her liking; at home she always insisted she had a really soft matress. It didn't bother her too much as she knew most people liked a firm mattress. Even still, she couldn't help but squirm around under her cosy covers. She groaned quietly; she hadn't woken up in the nicest way possible. It was true that she usually made noises when she awoke, but the noises she made as she fell out of her slumber were more violent than usual.

Again Lee flipped over, but this time so she was on her side. She faced her roomate - who was still lying in bed, sleeping contently. Lee pouted. Emily looked very happy lying in bed, she was smiling in her sleep - but every time Lee woke up in the morning (or in the middle of the night) she always had trouble getting back to sleep again. And seeing as today was quite a big day, she couldn't stay in bed for too long anyway. Lee done a final 90 degree flip and ended up on her stomach before reaching sleepily under her pillow to pull out her phone. Clicking on the largest button in the middle, she stared at her screen. A little icon of a yellow envelope with a red star sat beside the display of the time, indicating that she had unread texts. Two, to be exact. She typed in her passcode and opened up the menu before swapping over to her text inbox. She clicked the newest one; from Jessica.

'Rise and shine, Lee! You've got a big day ahead of ya ', the text read. Lee smiled. According to the timestamp it was sent just over 10 minutes ago - it seemed Lee wasn't too late in getting up. Clicking back into her inbox, she viewed the second text which was from Darren. 'You up yet? Better get ready soon.' Lee groaned as she noticed the timestamp - Darren had sent that text over an hour and a half ago. She knew that he was usually an early bird, but really?

With a sigh, Lee sat up in her bed and threw her covers off her legs. The night before she had gathered the clothes she'd be wearing today and put them at the bottom of the bed, and so she arose and picked them up. Emily was obviously sound asleep so Lee began to get dressed. She hadn't picked out anything overly fancy; just a patterned white t-shirt, skinny jeans, a dark green and turquoise checkered hoodie and a light teal scarf. It only took her a few minutes to get fully clothed, put her pyjamas away, text Darren, Jessica and Donny back and made herself some hot chocolate. She walked back into their bedroom and stood in the middle of the floor for a while, looking around the room curiously but not looking for anything in particular. She liked the feel of the curly carpets in between her toes, and the deep, dark blue colour of the walls. She also liked the way the light wood of the beds, cupboards and shelves looked with the dark blue walls and the plain white bedclothes. It was quite a dashing room. The metallic modern art vases and things on top of the cupboards looked cute, too. She began to wonder if everyone else had such nice rooms, but her thoughts were soon interrupted by the sound of someone rolling over in their bed.

"Emily?" Lee said cautiously. She kicked the side of her matress. Her roommate didn't react.

Lee took another sip of her hot chocolate before walking back through to the kitchen and making up the hot beverage in another mug. Maybe the aroma of the hot cocoa would help wake Emily up? In all seriousness Lee just wanted to leave the apartment and meet up with her bandmates in the canteen, but she felt it would be rude to leave Emily alone while she was still sleeping. When she arrived back into their bedroom she sat down on the carpet, legs crossed, and placed her mug of hot chocolate in front of her on the floor. She held Emily's mug in her hands; after all, she wouldn't want her cocoa to get cold, would she? That way I would be serving her cold chocolate. And that wouldn't make a good first impression.

She continued to stare at Emily, almost trying to will her awake with her eyes. Without thinking she moved her leg out - spilling the hot chocolate in front of her onto the carpet. "Oh, bother ..." she murmured, standing up to place Emily's mug on the bedside cabinet before walking into their on-suite bathroom. She pulled out some toilet paper and took some cleaning up spray from the cabinet beneath the sink and returned to the bedroom, kneeling down to savagely attacking the carpet with bubbly cleaning up stuff.

She and Lee made little conversation before Lee decided it was time to go down to the canteen. Fixing her hair quickly in front of the mirror in the bathroom, Lee got Emily's permission to leave earlier than her - not that Emily really minded when Lee came and went. She just wanted to be left to actually wake up.

~*~​

Jessica tossed over the eggs in the pan. She quickly shuffled the pan around the stove, trying to make sure the egg was being evenly cooked. She kept an eye on the bacon in the other pan, too, making sure not to burn anything. Ruby stumbled into the kitchen. "What's that smell?" she murmurred. Jessica smiled and replied without turning around to face her; "I'm cooking up a little breakfast. Do you want some?"

Ruby grinned at Jessica as she finally turned to face her. "Well," she said, "that's a silly question."

Within a few minutes, Jessy and Ruby were sat down at the ktichen table, discussing anything they could think of over fried egg and bacon. After a while Jessica decided that it was probably time to take off her white tank top and baggy pink trousered pyjamas and change into something presentable. Quickly but tidily she pulled on a black and purple tank top, black leggings and a purple skirt, followed by dark purple pumps. Ruby joined her in going down to the canteen, giggling and chattering the whole way down.

Most people were already there - the hall had quite a large amount of groups already there - which included some of the Sound Warriors and Cheese Bubbles. Jessica only noticed this as she saw Lee waving somewhat over-enthusiastically to her, with a huge grin on her face. Jessica and Ruby quickly trotted over to that table, before sitting opposite each other. "Hey Jessy, Ruby~" Diego said with a smile as they plopped themselves down. Ruby and Jessica greeted back; not only to Diego, but to Lee, Darren, Hunter and Lucas, too.

"Where are Emily and Donny?" Ruby asked curiously to anyone who was listening.

"Emily's just coming, I left her in our room for a little bit longer," Lee replied with a smile. "Pretty much the same story with Donny," Hunter said in quite the deadpan voice. Jessica smiled back to the two who replied, but she did wonder about Hunter. He seemed like a nice enough guy, but he rarely said anything happily. A bit like Darren, really - just less shy.

"Hey, guys!" a voice called out. Jessica looked over curiously - Donny had just entered the canteen. Speaking of not being shy, her mind chimed in. "Donny, my man!" Diego said with a grin as he high-fived Donny. Donny beamed back and threw himself into a chair beside Darren.

"I still don't understand how the egg didn't fall on your head, Jessy," Ruby said, somewhat out of the blue. Jessica's eyes swivelled back to her roomate. "When you lift the contents of a bowl upside down, it's supposed to fall out!"

Jessica giggled, "I know, I know. I'm not entirely sure why that happens either, but it does!" Ruby smiled back. "Even though it was awfully mysterious, it still tasted lovely, right?" Before much time had gone by, Emily had arrived and both the Sound Warriors and Cheese Bubbles were making their way to the stage. Jessica was walking at the back of the group, but quickly ran up to Donny and grabbed his arm to get his attention. "Huh?" Donny blurted out in surprise. Soon recognising Jessica he smiled. "Wassup?"

"No, I just wanted to be with you guys instead of stuck at the back by myself." Jessica replied with a simple smile. Donny chuckled. "Anyway," she said, "we're getting our theme list today, right? As a band we have to stay together!" Donny smiled. They walked together into the auditorium and soon joined the rest of their bandmates before standing silently and patiently as Ramirez' assitant walked to each of the bands seperately, handing each of them a sheet of paper. Lee took the paper from the assistant and soon turned to the rest of her band and mumbled it. They passed it around each other, and they all smiled individually as they passed it to the next band member.

"This sounds good!" Lee grinned.

"Any song, huh?" Darren muttered.

"That's a lot of songs to choose from." Donny replied with a smirk.

"Any immediate ideas?" said Jessica with a light smile.

"I dunno, I think we should confer with the Sound Warriors first!" Lee announced happily, and with that they all made their way to their friends. Most of the twenty bands here started moving, so they had to push and shove a little to get through.. After all the shuffling between tall and small, intimidating and friendly-looking musicians, they arrived in front of Diego, Hunter, Ruby, Lucas and Emily.

"We can pick any song we like! Isn't that awesome?" Lee burst out gleefully, beaming at all of her new-found friends. Most of them smiled widely back.

"Yeah. Yeah, it is," Emily answered with a smile. It was clear that she was a little nervous about this; and seeing the nerves in her struck a little bit of fear into the Cheese Bubbles. They would be up on stage, performing for loads of people in what seemed like no time at all. How would they do? How do they know if they're good? What if they go out in the first round? What if ... what if they make a fool of themselves and they look like idiots in front of the whole nation?

"I-uh, um, I-" Lee blurted out, the reality finally hitting her. Hitting her square in the face. "Errmmmm ..." She accumulated some strange looks from her friends, and Darren couldn't help but nudge her in the ribs and mutter "What the heck are you burbling about?". "I think ..." Lee started, quietly at first, but then as she looked Diego in the eye she brightened up - "I think we should play for each other! You know, Sound Warriors and Cheese Bubbles. We'll be stuck with each other for a while anyway, so we should have a jam or whatever to see how we play. O-or something."

"That's a good idea!" one of her friends replied. The others agreed. "When should we jam together?"

"Uhhhh ..." Lee muttered, glancing to her bandmates for support.

"We could ask one of Ramirez' assistants if we could jam tonight," Jessica said cheerily. "You know, in the practice room thingies. We'd just have to lug all of our equipment down!"

~*~​

"This is super heavyyyyy. Can you help me carry it?"

Emily looked up at Lee with an unimpressed look. Lee stood at the top landing outside their apartment and Emily was a landing down - both carrying guitars and amps. "Erm, Lee," Emily called up to her friend, "I'm carrying a bass and an amp too, you see. We've just got a little further, then ..." really, Emily was lying. It wasn't a terrible lie, but a lie all the same - Lee, at least, had hardly stepped out of their apartment. She had ages to go before they arrived downstairs.

Through the mumbling and grumbling of Lee, she and Emily finally arrived in the rehearsal rooms. The rest of their bandmates were already there, and Darren and Jessica were setting up. Darren's bass was plugged into an amp at the end of the wall and he was tuning the strings; Jessica was just unfolding the legs for her keyboard stand before leaning down to plug the keyboard in. It seemed Lee and Emily's entrance was a prompt for Donny to get up and actually do something; before then he had been chilling, sitting against the wall talking to Hunter - but he got up quickly and shuffled over to the big drumset that was already set up by Ramirez Records for any bands that wanted to rehearse - which Cheese Bubbles and Sound Warriors obviously did.

"Hurry up, Lee, you're almost late," Darren commented with a smirk. Lee grinned and lugged her equipment over beside him, behind the microphone which they had clearly set up for her beforehand.

Diego’s melodical voice rang out from outside the bedroom, only half a minute or so after he’d woken up. Diego was known for usually disregarding others’ sleeping patterns in general, but Lucas had to admit Diego knew worse songs to sing in the morning and he wasn’t even going all-out; This was him being considerate.

Lucas yawned once more, and decided to get dressed. No use in trying to get more sleep, it seemed.

Iiiii, feel alive, i-i-iiive!

After putting on a moderately random selection of clothing- Skinny jeans, a dark marine T-shirt with a white blouse over it, and deep emerald scarf to finish it off. He had bought the scarf under pressure by Diego, who stated it perfectly matched his eyes. Lucas guessed it didn’t look too bad.

And the woooooorld! Turn it inside out, yeah~

He heard Darren rolling around in his bed, slowly waking up as well; Probably by either Diego’s singing or the loud sound of the blender. It must’ve been a really awkward experience for a regular guy to share the bed with a guy like Diego, even if there’s nothing going on. Lucas’d been surprised Darren hadn’t insisted on taking the couch. Then again, the couch wasn’t designed for sleeping on, by the looks of it.

He went over to the living room, and grabbed the remote to turn the TV on. Unsurprisingly, he found that Glee had been set to auto-record for every episode to come. Clearly Diego had set his priorities first thing in the morning.

I’m floatin’ around, in ecstacyyy, so- Don’t! Stop! Me noooo-

Diego came around the corner of the kitchen door, carefully balancing three large glasses with an unknown substance in his hands. ‘Oh, hey Luke!’ Diego greeted him. ‘Just thought I’d make us some healthy drinks before we go downstairs. Never a bad thing!’

‘Diego, do you actually sleep?’ Lucas asked, meaning it as a genuine question. ‘What, just because I’m a morning person?’ Diego said, frowning. ‘You stayed up to about three AM last time we had a Halo Reach marathon, and at thirty past seven you were up baking waffles. That’s not healthy.’ Lucas replied.

Diego smirked and scratched his chin. ‘I have too much energy, and in all honesty, I don’t really miss the sleep. I’m fit as a fiddle- Mainly because of a perfect Hollywood healthy lifestyle! So drink up! It’s a banana yoghurt smoothie!’ He said, putting the drinks on the small table next to the sofa and handing Lucas one. He then crashed next to him, somehow avoiding spilling it all over himself.

There was a bit of calm silence when both Diego and Lucas tried the smoothie, which was surprisingly good. Of course, it didn’t last longer then three seconds with Diego in the room.

‘So, what do you think we should do for the first round, Luke? I was personally thinking something from Queen, but maybe that’s a bit too far-fetched for the first round? We’ll need to brainstorm a bit on that, but I’d love to something classic-rocky, and…’

This was going to be a long day. But probably fun anyway.

~~~

Maybe it was her training in gymnastics when she was young, or a lack of sports on Lee’s behalf, but it seemed Emily was a bit better at carrying heavy objects such as an amplifier and her bass. At the very least, she wasn’t as vocal about it.

‘This is super-heavy. Can you help me carry it?’ Lee moaned, dragging her amp across the floor with her guitar on her back. ‘Ehm, Lee? I’m carrying a bass and an amp too, you see.’ Emily said. Maybe she had been able to carry a second amp, since they weren’t the heaviest thing ever, but until Lee and her friends had gone professional she’d have to carry her own stuff around for longer. It couldn’t hurt to do a bit of training in advance.

Diego’s Dad had dropped their equipment off a bit later the day before, but they hadn’t gotten to setting it up yet since they hadn’t been assigned training studios yet- One of the Cheese Bubbles had asked Ramirez’s assistant for a shared one, or so Emily had heard. Their equipment had lingered in their rooms for the night, and now they had to bring it all down to the lower floors, where the studios were situated.

After a long way down and a lot of soft grumbling from Lee, which Emily wisely tried to ignore, they found the right door and entered. They were the last ones to arrive, and most of the others had already set up or were setting up their equipment. Hunter was talking to Donny against the wall, but when Donny saw the last two members arrive, he went over to his drums- Lucas was already standing behind his, adjusting the hi-hat.

Emily was pretty sure that floor-pedal cymbal thing was called a hi-hat.

Finally, Ruby and Diego were happily chatting away about a certain anime series Emily didn’t know in the slightest. Diego was a real fan of anime, but the more girly kind and the regular and popular ones. She hadn’t expected Ruby to be a fan as well. Probably wouldn’t be long before Diego would try to indoctrinate her as well.

Darren smiled and made a comment to Lee how she was almost too late. Lee smiled back and hurried to plug her stuff in, as did Emily. Removing everything from their cases and plugging it in correctly was a process you had to learn by doing it as much as possible, but after a while you could do it almost blindly.

The Cheese Bubbled had settled themselves in the far left corner from the door, next to the window, where the Sound Warriors had set up their equipment in the far right corner. They were not quite opposite of each other, and yet not quite next to each other either; A perfect setup for a harmonizing jam.

‘So, are we performing for the Sound Warriors first, or…’ Lee started, as a general question. Diego looked at his fellow band members, who nodded. ‘Well, we’ve been doing a bit of work on this one song for some time. It’s not exactly perfect, but we’ll give it a try!’ He exclaimed, turning his keyboard off- Strangely enough

He grabbed the microphone standard from behind his keyboard and positioned it at the front of their set-up, right next to Hunter and diagonally across from Ruby and Emily. He took a last sneak peek at the crumpled papers in his right hand, before motioning to Lucas.

Hunter did three long long lines, from high to lower to higher, before Diego started the vocals.

So would you be there for me, when I hit the ground?

I don’t wanna be the one that turns arou-ound-

Leaving all you questions!

Never an-swered~

The music from this first part repeated itself for the second, and Diego really enjoyed the simplicity of the song. Stuck In Your Radio, the original authors of this song, didn’t have a keyboardist, so Diego could focus on the singing.

So if you're feeling the emotions,

You might as well just ride!

Bring around the roses with a pocket of smi-iles-

Weee, both fall down!

At this point, Ruby’s secondary guitar line came into the music; In contrast to the primary guitar and the bass line, Ruby didn’t grudge her tones. So far, so good, Diego thought happily. This was where the chorus came in.

Beating in my chest, it makes me turn red!

Feelings flowing high, just makes things A-OK!

And I know it isn't superficial,

And I know that we've been official!

Diego and his friends repeated the chorus once more, trying to make it as similar as possible, which didn't take too much effort if you could get the tones right. After the repetition, the music changed altogether, containing a few harder drum smashes and more controlled guitar play.

Since! We're kind and queeeeeen...

O-of worlds! That don't exiiiist~

The part before the chorus was repeated once again, only now an octave higher.

So, when you see me frowning,

Would you make me smile?

For of all the girls I listed, you're the first one down!

If I am your king, can I wear my cro-o-own?

So if you're 'feeling it all over'

It's a big deal, as the ring

Around your finger will make you think,

Right, if! We don’t stick arou-ound~

From that point on, the music got a tad more intense. The continuing lines were nothing but 'Who-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh!' repeated eight times, so it was mostly for the music; The guitar lines that were already quite enjoyable throughout the entire song- The reason Diego had picked it in the first place- Became even better at this part. Altogether, though, they also became more difficult.

The chorus repeated itself again, twice like the first time, ending in the 'king and queen' part. After that, there were no other lyrics for some time; Instead, the beat slowed down a tad while Ruby started up a simple guitar solo, that she seemed to enjoy nonetheless- A crooked smile flashed across her face as her fingers strummed the strings.

The music became more climactic as the notes got higher, and eventually stopped for a second, before starting again. Now, only Hunter's guitar line remained, not quite as grudgy now- A swift change he'd luckily picked up quite well. Soon after, Emily picked up her bass line again as well. The small break'd been nice- She still had to get the hang of playing for prolonged periods without getting her hand a bit cramped up. It was going well, though, which was a big relief. They'd been ironing out the faults for some time now.

Lucas' drums joined the harmony of bass and guitar, a simple tap-tch beat that altered into a double tap when the vocals came back. The vocals in question were a lot softer then all the previous ones, and Diego had to get closer to the microphone to keep the words audible.

So would you be there for me, when I hit the ground?

I don't wanna be the one to turn arou-ound

Leaving all your questions!

Never ans-we-ered...

So if you're feeling the emotions

Might as well just ride;

Bring a round of roses,

With a pocket of smiles.

The music kept going at the same volume and velocity, the rhythm sticking as well. The only difference was Diego's singing, which went up again just for one line. This was quite typical for Stuck In Your Radio songs; A lot of variations in the lyrics/music harmony, along with random switches. In Diego's opinion, it made it all the better.

In the meantime, alongside focusing on her bass playing, Emily was eyeing the Cheese Bubbles carefully, their resident four-member audience. She'd read the tip in a music magazine; Always keep an eye on your audience, to see if you're keeping the mood up. Of course, there was little space for a party mood with four people in a jamming room, but it was worth a try. Soon enough, they'd be facing a real, huge audience.

Weeee both fall dooooown!

Beating in my chest, it makes me turn red!

Feelings flowing high, just makes things A-Okay!

And I know it isn't superficial,

And I know that we've been official!

Beating in my chest, it makes me turn red!

Feelings flowing high, just makes things A-Okay!

And I know this isn't superficial, and I know that we've been official-

For the final part of the lyrics, Ruby's guitar tones altered the match the tunes Diego sung at, adding to the finale effect.

Since! We're king and queeeen...

O-of worlds! That don't exiiiiiiiii-iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiist...

The song ended with that final note, but a low note lingered on Hunter's guitar, in the same fashion in which thousands of other rock songs ended. Diego, the tiniest bit out of breath, looked at the Cheese Bubbles gleefully, then at his band members. It hadn't been perfect, but it'd sure as hell'd been fun.

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